This guy demonstrated how to construct a DIY patio and fire pit. He at first softened the ground by watering it for a few days and thereafter marked the portion of land where he wished to build the patio and fire pit. After marking, he started with the construction of the patio followed by the fire pit and its seating arrangement.
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00:00Music
00:30How's it going guys? Welcome back to the Patriot DIY Channel. Today we're going
00:34to be showing you how to build a patio and fire pit in your backyard. If you're
00:38like me, you really like to entertain family and friends and there's really no
00:42better way to do that than around a fire pit outside. Now a job like this can seem
00:47pretty intimidating if you're not used to doing this type of stuff, but in this
00:51video we're going to show you how we did it.
00:56Now the first thing we did, since the ground in our yard is pretty hard, we
01:01wanted to soften that up before we started digging. So I went over the whole
01:05area with the aerator. If you haven't seen our video on aerating your yard, I'll
01:10put a link to that right here at the top of the screen so you can check that out.
01:13But after aerating, we watered the whole area for a few days to really soften
01:18that ground up before we started digging.
01:23Then we measured and marked out the area we wanted to build our patio using
01:27orange marking paint and I went over the whole area with our tiller to break up
01:32the top layer of soil and make it easier to dig out for the gravel and pavers
01:36that we're going to be putting down later.
01:39Then we were ready to start shoveling up all that loose dirt and this was a
01:55really big project so we decided to get the whole crew together to help out with
01:59this. It was nice to get the kids involved and I was actually surprised
02:03at how much fun they had helping us out with this. Now because this part of the
02:07process took several hours, it made it a whole lot easier to turn it into a
02:11family project.
02:25And of course when we had finally finished, I decided it wasn't quite deep
02:29enough for the gravel and pavers that we're going to be putting down, so I went
02:32back and tilled and shoveled up the whole area again.
02:41Now we can really see this patio start to take shape and we're really happy
02:45with how it's looking.
03:03Now it's time to start preparing the area for the fire pit, so I measured and
03:08marked out the center of the patio where the fire pit is going to go.
03:16We're going to be putting down a small concrete pad underneath the fire pit, so
03:20to mark that out I just drove a stake into the center and tied a string to it
03:25a little over half the diameter of the fire pit itself, and then I looped the
03:29end of the string around the nozzle of our paint can and used that to help mark
03:33out a perfect circle for our concrete pad.
03:51Then it was time to dig out the form for our concrete pad. Now anytime you're
03:55going to be exposing concrete to direct high temperatures, it can have a
03:59tendency to crack, so it's important that we make our pad thick enough that it's
04:03strong and can handle that heat. You want to make sure the pad's at least four
04:07inches thick. In our case, we ended up at about five inches.
04:25Once we had the hole dug to the depth we wanted, I went back and tamped it down so
04:37we'd have a nice firm flat surface to work with.
04:41Now you want to make sure your fire pit is as level as you can get it, so because
04:56I knew that our patio area has a slope to it, I drove in a stake on the high end
05:01of our hole to mark the level where the concrete needed to be to match the low
05:05side. Then it was time to mix up our concrete. Now the bag does have mixing
05:14instructions, but what we ended up doing was just adding a little bit of water at
05:18a time until we got the consistency we wanted. And hindsight being 20-20, we
05:23should have followed the instructions.
05:29Our hole is five and a half foot wide and about five inches deep, and it took
05:34us 15 50-pound bags to get it up to ground level. Now this is my first
05:40attempt at a concrete pad, so I'm not sure I got the consistency exactly right,
05:45but we just kept adding water and working it until we got it as smooth as
05:49we could, and the end result is going to work out just fine for our purposes. Once
05:55I reached the point that I was happy with, I went back with a broom and gave
05:59it a rough brush texture, and ultimately it turned out not bad.
06:14We decided to go ahead and start putting down our fire pit before the concrete
06:18had set. That way we could use the dead blow hammer to tap the blocks down into
06:23place and get them as level as possible.
06:30We are using a fire pit kit that you can pick up at most of your landscaping or
06:45home improvement stores, and I will put a link to one down in the description
06:49below if you want to pick one up for yourself. We got the largest one we could
06:56find at about 45 inches inside diameter, and what I like about this kit
07:01specifically is that each of the blocks is recessed so that they fit together
07:05perfectly, which makes assembling this part very easy. It also comes with a nice
07:13wide capstone to complete the look, and we are really happy with how this turned
07:18out.
07:26We decided to border our patio with pavers, so to prepare for laying down the
07:37pavers, we drove in a couple stakes into the corners and stretched a tight string
07:41along the edge to give us a reference to help keep the pavers straight and at a
07:45consistent height. We also put down a couple inches of sand that we could use
07:50to help level the bricks, and once the sand was down, we used a 2x4 to create a
07:55flat surface to lay the bricks on.
08:06As we put the pavers into place, we made sure to keep them straight along our
08:10string, and we used our dead blow hammer to tap them down into place and get the
08:14height we wanted.
08:25Once we were done with the pavers, we were ready to start putting down our
08:48rock. We used our tractor to move the rock into the patio area, but if you
08:53don't have a tractor, this could definitely be done with a wheelbarrow or
08:56a dump cart. I did make a mistake here, but we'll talk about that in just a
09:08minute. Alright guys, I gotta admit, I got a
09:12little excited once the rock showed up, and I just started dumping it out here
09:16and completely forgot that I meant to put down some landscaping fabric first.
09:21It happens, but there is no way I'm gonna go back and shovel all that rock back
09:26out, so what's there is there. I am gonna go back and make sure I put down
09:31landscape fabric right here on our walkway and anywhere else I can, but yeah,
09:37mistakes happen, should be fine. So we went back and put down landscape fabric
09:44to keep the grass and weeds from growing up in our rocks.
09:52And then we finished laying the pavers around our walkway, and it's really
10:09starting to look great.
10:22Before we started spreading the rock, we backfilled around the pavers to help
10:36lock them in place and keep them from moving once we start putting the rock in.
10:52Nothing left now but to finish spreading the rock, so we got the crew back
10:57together, grabbed some rakes, and got to work. And if you're like us and you don't
11:02have enough rakes, a push broom works surprisingly well for spreading rock.
11:08One thing you'll find out when you're doing this project is just how difficult
11:21it is to get this fire pit perfectly level, and you'll notice that once we got
11:26our blocks stacked up and we put our capstone on, it doesn't sit perfectly
11:31flat. It rocks back and forth, so what we're going to do to fix that is we'll
11:35take these capstones back off, and we're going to put a nice thick layer of
11:38mortar on top of the blocks. And while that's still wet, we'll set the capstones
11:43back in place, and that'll give us an opportunity to use a level and tap it
11:47down all the way around until we get it perfectly flat.
11:55So we went ahead and mixed up our grout in a five-gallon bucket. At this time, we
12:01did follow the instructions on the bag, so we got a good consistency with that.
12:12And then after removing the capstone, we spread it along those top stones and
12:17smoothed it out. And while it was still wet, we put the capstones back in place
12:23and then used our dead blow hammer again to tap it down, and we used our level to
12:28make sure we could get it as level as we could.
12:44It still didn't end up perfectly level, but it's close enough, and we definitely
12:49fixed the wobble.
12:52Once the job is done, you'll have a nice place to relax and entertain friends. So
13:01after all this hard work, we were ready to sit back, relax, and enjoy.
13:07Alright guys, well that's it for how to build your own patio in your backyard.
13:22Now we're not quite finished yet. We do plan on going back and putting some
13:25seating out here, as well as some string lights and plants and other things like
13:30that to dress it up, and we will go over how we do the lighting and stuff like
13:34that in another video.