FIREPIT

BUILDING THE FIREPIT AND DECK

Brent's perliminary plans as construction began...an elevated firepit with deck built around it to grade. As with a "value sketch" in painting a canvas, components change as your artwork develops. The earth around my cabin was my canvas and the rock and wood my medium.

Surveyors paint indicates the placement of the pit.

Sixty blocks complete the foundation.

Sand from the OBX...leveled and herringboned fire brick for the pit floor.

Sculpting in talus....fun but hard work.

Cap stones that I gathered off the mountain completed the design. A spray of muratic acid, a hose down and the pit is complete.

Three sandwiched cantileverd 2 x 12 x 16's formed one beam. Both will carry the weight of the deck out into the trees.

Two by eights on twelve inch centers.....this deck is solid!

I rented a bobcat and transported boulders to the grade and stacked...then framed the deck around them.

Finished up the laurel stick rail on the south deck on June 6th 2011. Really enjoy relaxing her in the evenings with my bride.

The laurel stick hand rails look like long legs of chocolate providing a nice contrast from the lighter lumbered pine frame and posts.

Deck completed in September 2011. Next addition will be a stamped concrete deck (bottom of photo)....which will wrap around to a screened in porch outside our bedroom...eventually a hot tub here around dry stack planters and rock steps leading down into the hollow.

(March 2010)

So...the winter of 2010 was unlike any other. Sixty plus inches of snow. Getting snowed in was a great experience in a mountain log cabin. We stayed cozy and had no symptoms of "cabin fever". As long as we had food, drink, propane and internet....we can survive. Dave Crockett survived one winter without the internet, but it was tough.

In early March, I began construction on an elevated firepit at the south corner of the cabin. The pit was eight feet in circumference and would coincide with the grade of the cabin floor, with the deck being built around the pit.

As spring and summer progressed...so did the firepit and deck. It's great feeling to be able to build and construct with your bare hands, and to work and sweat in God's great outdoors.

[BACK TO HOME]

; ;   The Beginning
: :   Planning
: :   Foundation
: :   Logs
: :   Walls
: :   Roof
: : Windows, Beams & Floor
: : Rocks
: : The Fun Continues
: : The Stairs & Loft
: : Christmas 2008
: : The Good and the Bad
: : The Firepit & Deck
: :   Back to Home Page

Beginning of dig, This was the toughest part and physically demanding.

# 64 stone for drainage. The string in the background indicates where the deck floor will be.

Eight feet across...this isn't a wimpy firepit!

Wacky and wild...I broke every masonry rule in the book but didn't compromise on structure.

Even a heart rock for my bride.....cheers.

Wisteria vines planted at the base of my pergola supports.

Dry stack rock planters with ferns bring the outdoors in.

Mountain Laurel stick hand rails is an old North Carolina mountain art craft. Kathy, Hunter and I gathered branches on the mountain in the winter (2011) for the railings and I assembled them this spring. Five panels done and seven more to go. Very labor intensive but satisfying.

Application of Sikkens oak stain.

Time for a day dream...this setting is so relaxing for Kathy and I. We burn a fire in the evenings all year long. Many times on crisp chilly mornings, we'll have a fire along with a steaming cup of fresh ground coffee.