How to make a fireplace in the country with your own hands?

Fire always attracts the eyes, it gives a good mood, warms. With very little effort, as well as imagination, you can make a fireplace on your own site on your own, especially since in the future it will undoubtedly be the main highlight of the recreation area.

First of all, you need to decide on a place for a future fire. To begin with, you should study well all the free space at the summer cottage. Safety comes first. The selected place should be at least 8-10 meters away from all structures, from green spaces - at 5-7 meters. It is also important to pay attention to the distance from the house - if the fire is far from the building, the smoke from the fire will not get inside.

The place should be flat with good ventilation (blown by the wind), first the future site is compacted, covered with rubble.

Many people equip such a recreation area in the garden, away from trees or in the garden against the backdrop of bright basil and fragrant mint. It is difficult to imagine a better place for barbecue.

No matter how much you would like to break a place for a fire near a beautiful decorative gazebo, this idea should be abandoned, the risk of fire is too great. If you really want to look at a street fire while sitting in a comfortable arbor, then you should simply build it from refractory stone or brick, that is, without the use of wooden parts, with the current abundance of building materials this will not be a problem.

It is not necessary to turn to the services of an experienced stove-maker, it is quite possible to decide for yourself, especially if you have ready-made ideas. And no matter how surprising it sounds, drawing and step-by-step instructions are not always needed when creating a place for a fireplace. In principle, for such a simple work, sometimes even cement is not used, that is, it is really very simple to do it with your own hands from improvised means.

Based on the location already chosen, you should decide on the shape (round or rectangular) and the size of the fireplace. Usually, these parameters depend on personal tastes and the size of the site, but experts do not recommend making the diameter more than two meters.

There are several options for forming an open street hearth in the country:

• it can be buried so deep that as a result it will be level with the ground;
• bury partially with small raised walls;
• put on a previously created platform.

When creating a recessed hearth, you just need to make a depression in the ground, and lining it with refractory material inside. If you wish, you can cover the area around the hearth with fine stone chips.

A brick hearth is also relevant. Usually it is laid out in a circle, and the logs are kindled either simply inside the hearth, or laid out on a pre-installed grate. If you have time and desire, you can fill the formwork with concrete, and then decorate the front side of the hearth.

All sorts of portable options are also especially good. The choice is huge: on legs of different heights, forged, made to order or independently from scrap materials (old barrels or other large containers).Such a hearth is good because it can be used at any time of the year; no additional steps and expenses are required to install it.

This fire pit is in the form of a square or a circle. In order to make the hearth round, you can use old metal barrels of different sizes (you will need to cut off several rings of a certain size from them, which, in fact, will serve as a shape for the future hearth). After the concrete has hardened, the form should simply be cut off. To create a concrete bowl in the shape of a square, use unnecessary trims of boards or dense plywood, the prepared form is secured with pegs and filled with concrete.

1. A stone and brick hearth is very effective and practical, but ready-made blocks are most often used for masonry.
2. To do this, lay blocks around the fire pit. If the size of the circle needs to be slightly adjusted, you will have to cut the blocks (using, for example, a stone saw).
3. The next step will be marking, you need to mark a circle on the ground with a shovel, while retreating 3-5 cm outside the perimeter.
4. Further, according to the finished markings, a ditch should be dug (not very deep, a maximum of 30-40 cm). It will need to be filled with gravel.
5. Blocks can already be placed on the compacted gravel, periodically you need to check with a level how even the masonry is, if necessary, you can put gravel or cut down the block itself a little. You need to continue working until the entire wall is removed.
6. Fix all the blocks well with cement mortar; on top of the finished work, you can make decor from natural stone, lay out in the form of a mosaic or create patterns.

Building a hearth from blocks or bricks, of course, is more difficult than, for example, inventing the same one from a barrel, but it lasts much longer, it is enough to spend it once, and the problem with a warm and cozy place in the country will be solved forever.

In principle, a hearth can be made from any material at hand, almost everything will be used.

• Barrel hearth Is an almost ideal budget option. Everyone can find a barrel at their dacha, you can dig it completely into the ground, after having processed the edges, and the hearth is ready for use. You can hide only part of the container under the ground, and decorate the rest of the protruding part beautifully or paint with heat-resistant paints.

• Also, a simple solution would be to use a rim. Of course, it is difficult to apply it for a large high fire, but if the area does not allow, as they say, to roam, then this is undoubtedly the way out. The advantages are obvious: inexpensive, practical, unusual. You can add some forged items to create a certain style, and the hearth from a simple rim turns into a unique thing.

• Also recently, large reinforced concrete flower pots, such flower girls usually decorate the streets of cities. They are very convenient, they do not require absolutely any additional steps in the installation, they are varied in shape and size (you can also choose the style of the garden or plot).

• Metal hearths also look unusual. You can make such a simple structure using a welding machine. Such hearths look very impressive and colorful, an old used balloon will be used (it is cut off, I add a couple of parts in the form of handles or hooks) or unnecessary metal sheets that can be welded, for example, in the form of a high cone with shelves for firewood.

Of course, every owner of his site wants to have a unique and unique design. A neat hearth is not only attractive in appearance, but also pleases with its practicality. But in order for it to serve for a long time, several rules should be remembered.

• If possible, you can make the so-called storm drainage, this will protect the structure from flooding.
• When choosing a future material for the hearth, one should take into account its durability, how strong and durable it is. In principle, many do not count on long-term use and are ready to change the material at least every year, thereby updating and changing the style on their site. If the option with an annual replacement is not for you and you want to do it once and for centuries, then it is still better to resort to the services of an experienced specialist, he will help you choose a beautiful and creative solution.
• If you are planning not only the usual gatherings with a cup of tea near the fire, but also active cooking on the fire, then you should stock up on grates. It is better to choose heavy forged ones, they can be added to the structure during its creation (during laying) or use a portable lattice with legs.

A correctly and beautifully made hearth is a decoration of the site. In addition, it perfectly replaces the barbecue, and it can also be used for heating on cool autumn nights, when you still do not want to sit in the house at all.

The hearth can fit very well into any landscape design.

• When the dacha is unpretentious and there is no money for designer things, then, for example, you can make a hearth like an alpine slide or a waterfall. If desired, such an option can actually be created within an hour and without the use of cement. To do this, the refractory brick should be laid out in three rows in a circle with a gap of half a brick (checkerboard principle). And then bricks are laid out on one side, already without gaps, in a cone. Looks awesome.

• If the site is designed in an Alpine style, then a large, massive campfire site with wooden furniture or stumps in the distance will perfectly complement the style.

• To maintain the entire site in a Scandinavian style, professionals recommend sticking to gray and black colors when choosing a stone or slabs for a hearth, it is also advisable to choose a square shape and maintain clear contours throughout.

• When the principle of minimalism is present in the garden, then you should not overload the space with massive buildings of the hearth. Here, a portable version will come in handy, for example, a metal bowl painted in black, and next to it you can put benches or chairs in the same theme.

• For lovers of high-tech style, designers came up with the idea of ​​embedding hearths into the walls and even installing them in pools, fountains, benches, etc. man.

There are a lot of options to supplement your plot with an unusual and creative place for joint recreation. With the help of seemingly ordinary things, you can surprise and please your loved ones. Such a unique and at the same time simple thing, undoubtedly, will once again bring everyone together for a cheerful and sincere conversation, will give a warm atmosphere, suitable for a family dinner in the fresh air, a working corporate party, which will definitely be remembered by absolutely all colleagues.

For information on how to make a fireplace with your own hands, see the next video.