How To Build a Fireplace

Home Depot’s lowest price is $100 which isn’t terrible but I’d like to find one closer to $65. It’s hard to think of stores that might sell this.

Try craigslist.org in your area.Just type outdoor fireplace in the homepage search bar and any that are for sale, will come up.Keep checking as new ads come up every day(actually every hour)

I need specifics and ‘how to’s’ so I can get it done!

This may help you
http://www.ehow.com/how_2148609_build-outdoor-fireplace.html
I have a new DIY site and I refer folks a lot to E-How.

You will need a heat resistant barrier between the siding and the fireplace.
It will also depend on what material you plan to use to construct the fireplace.

yellow pages under gas grills/ fireplaces

It’s a somewhat large outdoor fireplace, you know, the one with the stove top and chimney. We’re cooking out tomorrow and I suck at starting fires… no logs, just planks (junk wood) and plenty of tinder and kindling. Help.
I’m a Girl Scout but for some reason, they don’t teach us how to make fires anymore… they just give us orders that don’t amount to much diconnected.

Many years ago when I was a cub scout they taught us to build a fire this way first put some paper or shredded bark (something that will light easy) down then some very thin small twigs then some larger sticks use these to make a Tee Pee over the kindling low enough that the flam will go through the Tee Pee when this is burning add larger pieces just make sure that there is space for air to get to the fire.
Good Luck
Please be careful have fun and eat a smore for me

We have one of those metal fire pits that are off the ground, and fully enclosed by a screen. The instructions way "Do NOT use on a wood deck or any combustible surface." Problem is, a wood deck is the only place we have to put this. Is this just a precaution they are required to put in the instructions? Do any of you have an outdoor fireplace on a wood deck? If I got one of those fireproof "grill mats", would that suffice?

They do put the warning on there to protect themselves against a lawsuit but if you place it away from any railings and insure it is covered when in use then I have had no problem with mine. I did however use a grid of stepping stones underneath to insure that any hot legs did not do damage to the deck.

My family recently got one, and we want to know if we can use it. We have plenty of space, But i once heard it was not legal in some parts of Massachusetts.

While I find it unusual that one can’t have an outdoor firepit of any kind, your best bet is to call your local county offices or fire department to find out what the regs are. It would be unfortunate that in such a great place as Wellfleet you couldn’t take advantage of having an outdoor fireplace but rules are rules. We love Wellfleet and have vacationed there from time to time. You picked a great location to settle.

The neighbors just added an outdoor fireplace to their back yard. The smoke enters our house. We have to close all our windows. What can we do to stop the use of the fireplace. This is a residential neighborhood and the smoke is awful.

If your neighbors are unresponive to your smoke case then you will need to look into some serious air sealing measures for your home.
Since the home is taking in smoke particles that tells me that you have some major openings in your homes air envelope.
Correcting this will help with the smoke and also save you on AC and heat costs so it is worth looking into. If you want a DIY solution to finding the air leaks then buy a smoke pencil http://www.smokepencil.com and on a windy day close up your house and check all the windows, doors fireplaces, outlets, etc.
If you want to hire a pro the best person to point you in the right direction would be an enery auditor. they charge around $200-$400 to do testing to find the bad spots and give you estimates of what it would cost to fix them and your payback. many energy companies offer this service at free or reduced cost so it is worth a call to find out if that is a available to you.
Like I said, If smoke particles are getting in you have a major breach that is likely an open flue or vent that is sucking in ridiculous air volume. It will be worth your energy dollar to look into the trouble, but still talk to your neighbor about the smoke.
I use an outdoor fireplace myself occasionally with the kids and if my neighbor had a smoke problem with it i would stop using it…but that is just me.

I am trying to purchase an outdoor fireplace and they want to charge me $50 in shipping. I’m not sure it’s going to work so I don’t want to risk paying for the shipping if I am going to just return it. I’ve already done searches on the internet to find coupon codes and have had no luck. Any other ideas?

call the nearest target and see if they have it in stock for pick up. so long as its within $50 worth of gas, youre saving money.

I found this from a year old posting. Has anyone used this plan? http://www.bia.org/pdfs/RumfordFireplace.pdf

That particular design is actually for a indoor fireplace used not only for astetics, but also heating of the room. The ones I’ve build both for myself and friends have been my own designs, and they’re not overly hard to build since heat dispersal for outdoor fireplaces and BBQ’s aern’t nearly as much of an issue as indoor fire places. There are lots of interesting options you can go with for outdoor fire places that aern’t fiesable for indoor fireplaces. I would almost encourage looking into a combination fireplace and BBQ.