Fire Pits: A Hardscape Essential
As a Macomb County homeowner, you are surely looking for home improvement ideas that will make your home look great, improve your spaces for entertaining, and at the same time increase the value of your home. Creating a beautiful hardscape for your home’s yard and patio is a great way to do all of this. Today’s hardscapes don’t have to be just a simple paver patio or walkway. The variety of pavers available to homeowners means that your hardscape can include all sorts of great features. One of the most popular for homeowners is a fire pit. These easy-to-install features are quickly becoming an essential for outdoor living spaces, patios and pool-side retreats.
An Easy Focal Point
One thing that we encourage homeowners to consider in their hardscape design is a focal point or center piece. This might be a water feature, a planter, or a fire pit. The great thing about a fire pit is that it makes an easy focal point for your hardscape area. It’s an easy place to arrange seating around, they are always a popular place for your guests to hang out around, and because they are the focal point in your design, they can be put just about anywhere in your hardscape design.
Perfect for Any Space
It doesn’t really matter if you have a tiny townhouse patio or a big open backyard, a fire pit is a great feature that can work for any space. Small fire pits can be incorporated into those tiny patios, giving a warm and inviting place to gather. Large outdoor spaces can benefit from one large fire pit, or a couple of fire pits or fireplaces for more options and a variety of seating areas. Fire pits are perfect for drawing guests away from your home, and creating instant seating areas for your guests to linger around and visit.
Brick Pavers are the Perfect Material
We are already constructing your hardscape using beautiful brick pavers. Brick is a highly versatile material and is perfect for a variety of applications, including your fire pit. Because of the manufacturing process, brick can withstand the heat of a gas or wood burning fire pit. You don’t have to worry about the brick cracking or breaking under the heat, so your hardscape’s fire pit will last for many years. Constructing your fire pit with brick also allows you to coordinate your pit with the rest of your hardscape. Or, if you want it to stand out, chose brick that is darker or lighter than the rest of your hardscape. Just remember, the lighter the brick, the more it will show soot and darkening from heat.
Wood vs. Gas
This is an important question to ask when we are designing your hardscape. There are a couple of reasons that this is probably a more important decision than the type of brick we are using. First, many communities and HOAs prohibit wood burning fire pits. Installing a wood burning fire pit in the wrong place could mean you either retrofit which can be expensive, or never use your fire feature. Gas is a great option for smaller spaces because you can control the flame. Gas fire pits can use the natural gas from your home, or we can set them up to run on propane tanks.
Fire pits are quickly becoming an essential backyard feature. No matter the size of your space, a fire pit can be a reality for your Macomb County home. If your yard or patio is ready for an upgrade, Classic Landscape provides a full range of landscaping services including hardscape installation. To learn more about our services, or to schedule an estimate, call us today at (586) 243-3555.