Cheap Fire Pit Ideas & DIY Bench

How we made a DIY fire pit + 2 fire pit benches for just $100 dollars. Plus other do it yourself cheap fire pit ideas your family can make and enjoy in your backyard.

DIY Fire pit Under $100

Like I said, always use what you have first to make this stone fire pit. That is where this whole project began……..

We moved into our new home this year and there was an above ground jacuzzi that didn’t work very well. When it finally died my husband and his friend got rid of it but at the bottom there was this frame holding it up made of heavy duty wood. I knew we could use that for something so he took it apart and put it aside until he mentioned he always wanted a firepit in the backyard, BAM….we had it’s new purpose.

Simple Backyard Fire Pit

Wood = benches to me so we went that direction…..

What is the cheapest way to make a fire pit?

Use what you have on hand. If you have old bricks laying around, use those. Cinderblocks on the side yard collecting dust, then that should be your focus. You just need an area with rocks on the bottom that is away from any structures where you can build a ring with sides about 2′ high or more.

If you have a clearing you could also just dig a large hole in the ground and use that, though that isn’t quite as safe and may be a tripping hazard when the fire is out.

Outdoor Fire pit Ideas

This was our spot for building a fire pit. The wood to the left you can see had been taken apart and was waiting to be repurposed.

If you’re looking for cheap fire pit ideas like this ours I would look for somewhere in your backyard to put it first:

• Area needs to be large enough for a fire pit and benches/chairs that can be far enough away from the flames
• DIY backyard fire pit spot needs to be flat
• Bottom area needs to be free of debris that can catch on fire, ideally use materials such as:
  • Bricks or cinder blocks -this is how to install patio pavers to use as your fire pit area base
    • we chose to use rocks – river rocks seen here are great as they are smooth and can be bought in bulk at places like D&B Supply
  • Gravel
  • Dirt

We had the wood we needed for a diy fire pit bench but we needed something to hold those up. Since we live in Idaho we always go for what can be found in nature and tree stumps it was!

We had gotten rid of a few dead trees in our yard and have family with land so that was our go to since those would be free and easy to come by but you could use 4×4 pieces of wood for the benches legs too.

Fire Pit Benches

Simple Wood Bench

Long screws held the 2×4 pieces of wood on to our tree stumps to secure them into place. As you can see the area we chose already had a lot of rock but we wanted a bit more to cover the area since there were patches of just dirt and that tends to get tracked into the house so rock was my preference.

Now you need to decide whether you want to build you own firepit or buy a portable one online. You can find one online for about the same price as buying all the bricks necessary for making your own but we really thought it would last longer if it were made of concrete or bricks so we went that route. I also liked the more rustic/natural look of using bricks and/or concrete blocks.

How to build your own backyard fire pit 

• Round using these castle stone concrete blocks
• Square using bricks like you see here
• If you want to really go all out here’s how to create a circular patio with fire pit
• Create unique fire pit designs as you wish and create a fire pit to enjoy with your family this year!

Of course if you do not want to build your own easy diy bench and brick fire pit, here are other firepit ideas. You can purchase some of these that are cheap:

• Small wood burning stars and moon firepit
• Tall gas outdoor fireplace
• Smokeless firepit and grill
• Portable steel mesh fire pit
• If you want to just make the benches and buy a tabletop fire pit that’s possible

If you choose to go with our cheap fire pit idea you need enough for 3 levels. That seemed high enough for the logs to stay inside the pit and provide a bit of distance from the flame when you sat on the benches beside it.

You can see how you could create the same thing with square bricks. It would just be well….square instead of roundish like this. Either way it is a really cheap way to make a backyard firepit.

Benches were free for us to make. If you don’t have these resources then lawn chairs work just as good. Or keep your eyes open when you visit secondhand shops for outdoor chairs etc…

You can see the photo at the top of this post showing it in action with our kids roasting s’mores. It was a fun DIY home improvement project that our family will surely enjoy for years to come. Eidn’t cost us a lot of money at all to create.

Try it yourself!! Get everyone together to do a big backyard clean up, then decide on a spot. Prep it for your new fire pit area. Then look around for materials you already have and can use to get started.

• Another project we shared recently was how to make a vegetable garden. Another family fun activity.

Looking for other cheap fire pit ideas?

• Use landscape pavers to create an outdoor fire pit
• Here’s how to build an in ground fire pit for your backyard yourself
• Using square bricks with a grate on top
• How to create a diy burning bowl for your backyard

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