Finished

The fire pit was finished just in time for the Memorial Day party that we hosted.



















There is a little bit more work that I'd like to do around it, but it's good enough for now. I need a break from that thing. It consumed my life so much that if I see something as simple as broken tortilla chips, I think of this damn project- because the tortilla chips look just like the shape of the stones and uuugh if I had to fit any more of those things together I think I would have lost my mind.

The grass took a beating during the construction, so I have to work on that a bit. I would like to put in a stone patio around it next year. We'll see if I'm up for that when the time comes.

Project Details:
Time spent building: I don't know exactly, but my closest estimate is about 85 hours. It could have easily been 100, but I really don't care to admit to it taking that long. It's also difficult to come up with a number because I worked on it by myself most of the time, but Joe and my parents helped in the beginning and end, too. So there are a lot of variables that go into the amount of time it takes.
Cost: $450, approximately.
-Stone: $280, with enough leftover to make some nice paths in the yard.
-Concrete and Mortar: $70
-Fire Brick: $60
-Pea Gravel: $5
-Chisel: $15
-Ibuprofen: $6
Difficulty: Moderate. It was an easy enough process to learn but a pain in the ass to execute. It was also very hard on my back and pelvis because the rocks are so heavy to move around and because I had to bend down the entire time.
Tips: Get a chisel right away. I didn't get one until one of the last days and that's what killed me. The store was out of the one I needed at first, so I just forged ahead and kept forgetting to buy one whenever I was in Madison. That was the biggest mistake that I made.
Sources: The stone is from Midwest Decorative Stone and Landscape. Their prices are fair and they have a lot of neat rocks. I've added it to my list of favorite places. The concrete and mortar are from various hardware stores. I also spent a lot of time looking at photos that I gathered online as inspiration.

I'm going to post a photo set on flickr when I renew my pro-account.

I'll be back throughout the week to show you some other things I've been up to since finishing this on Friday.