Guide to building a permanent barbecue pit in your garden

When the summer weather comes out to play, many Brits use the opportunity to bring their cooking outside and enjoy a BBQ. But why settle for a standard BBQ when you could create your own BBQ pit?

This guide will help you build a safe and efficient BBQ pit for your garden for all your summer parties in 2024.

What’s needed?

Before you get started, you will need to collect all the relevant equipment and tools in order to complete your project, we’ve given you a list to consider:

  • Bricks
  • Carpenter’s square
  • Cinder blocks
  • Dry mortar
  • Gravel
  • Grill top
  • Hand tamper
  • Measuring tape
  • Metal braces
  • Metal cylinder or can (if you’re building a metal pit)
  • Paving slabs
  • Shovel
  • Spirit level
  • Trowel
  • Water

Planning and preparation

You’d be amazed at the amount of styles you can consider when you’re creating your barbecue pit. Check out this handy guide from DIY Cozy Home to help you find the design for you and don’t forget to consider your budget. You don’t want a half-finished pit just because you realised during the project that you couldn’t afford all the materials.

You will need to consider the best location for your BBQ bit. For convenience, you should be aiming to place it close to your dining room or kitchen, so that you only need to walk small distances with food and utensils once it’s time to grill. Logistically, you should aim for your pit to be at least 15 feet square (3 feet x 5 feet).

Of course, you will need to prioritise safety when it comes to barbecues, especially in small spaces, like a normal garden. Avoid building it in a place where it’s likely that smoke is going to blow straight into either your home or one of your neighbour’s properties. It should be placed away from any overhanging trees, buildings and fences which are at risk of being damaged from the smoke or catching fire. If your home’s outdoor space is vulnerable to high winds, aim to build the fire pit close to a brick or concrete wall which will work to break the force of the wind.

If you plan on building a gas BBQ, you will need to read up on important safety rules and advice. Refrain from ever enclosing your barbecue pit, such as by putting a tent or cabin around it. Be aware of the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning once a gas-powered barbecue pit is constructed too. You should stop using a barbecue pit immediately if you begin suffering from a loss of breath, dizziness, headaches or nausea and seek advice from a specialist builder before operating the barbecue again.

Lay the foundations

The foundations are obviously the first part of the construction process in order to create a fully functioning BBQ pit. After all, the barbecue itself is going to be of substantial weight and will require good foundations to support it.

Begin by digging a hole at 8 inches in depth, then clear any stones and compact the soil at the bottom of the trench with your hands. Next, pour a layer of gravel into the trench that is around two to three inches deep and level this off, again using your hand tamper. You will then want to mix your dry mortar with some water and spread a two-inch layer of the mixture on top of the gravel. Level this mixture out using a trowel, though do this quickly as mortar tends to dry-off at a rapid rate.

The Base

When you’re happy with your foundation, it’s time to start the base. To build this, start placing cinder blocks around the edges of the mortar. A small hole should remain to drain water and any gaps between the blocks can easily be filled using wet mortar. Just be sure to keep removing any excess mortar while remembering that mortar dries off quickly.

Use a spirit level to ensure they’re perfect and use your carpenter’s square to check the corners of your pit. Afterwards, spread more wet mortar on top of the cinder blocks and start placing bricks in a side-by-side format on top of them. By using a double layer of bricks, you will instantly strengthen the entire pit. Once again, don’t waste time removing any excess mortar to avoid problems once it’s been given time to dry.

Finish

The last step can differ in difficulty, depending on the type of BBQ pit you’re creating. If you have decided to go for a metal pit, then all that’s going to be required is for you to install the metal cylinder or can over the layer of bricks you’ve put in place and fit the grill top over the furnace.

Alternatively, a brick BBQ pit requires you to follow the below procedure:

  1. Apply more mortar and continue to build additional layers of bricks until you reach the optimum height.
  2. Place bricks in the corners first and work outwards.
  3. Keep using your spirit level and your carpenter’s square throughout this process.
  4. At the penultimate layer of bricks, insert metal braces into the mortar so that they face inwards before applying the bricks.
  5. Leave overnight to set.
  6. The next morning, place the grill top onto the metal braces.

If you’re building a gas-powered BBQ pit, attach the hoses for the gas supply and seek advice from an expert to ensure that the gas transfer is operating properly. Remember, gas taps must be switched off before you change a gas cylinder and you must only carry out this task in an open-air environment.

Now your BBQ is complete, all there is to do is wait for that nice day and fire up the grill.

This article was created by Flogas, one of the UK’s top suppliers of LNG and LPG storage tanks.

 

LEGAL INFORMATION

This site is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. We are compensated for referring traffic and business to Amazon and other companies linked to on this site. We may also do this with other affiliate schemes.

You May Also Like…