What's more fun than a box of rocks???
- Thread starter Botch
- Start date
mcad64
Well-Known Member
Well done Botch!! The whole project looks very nice!! Under the category of dumb questions, what is fueling the flames in your fire rock? Is that little brass thing on the ground some sort of shut off valve? Is it piped in natural gas? I see you have a propane bbq so I doubt it is natural gas, otherwise your bbq would be natural gas as well, n'est pas? Forgive me if this has been explained already!!
Thanks,
Mike
Thanks,
Mike
Yes, the firepit runs on natural gas, had to run gas lines from the north side of the house. I wasn't happy about the installation of the valve, but I went to a Hobby Lobby, picked up a couple plastic shrubberies, and fastened one to the brass valve, and another to a corner of one of the stone benches, so it looks completely natural, like vegetation growing out the cracks, and it completely covers the brass valve/black pipe. I didn't like the look of the clay pot of oregano you see in the pic above.
The house never had a plumbed gas grill, I moved here with the propane Genesis, which is now used solely to store Big Green Egg accessories and a metal surface to support hot grates. My boss's son wants to buy it for $50, but its mid-July and he still hasn't shown up for it.
The house never had a plumbed gas grill, I moved here with the propane Genesis, which is now used solely to store Big Green Egg accessories and a metal surface to support hot grates. My boss's son wants to buy it for $50, but its mid-July and he still hasn't shown up for it.
:text-bump:
Mr. Jamhead, you were quite prescient, two years ago. :text-bravo: :bow-blue:
This setup worked nice that first summer, I was out there just about every night. Last spring, after the snow melted I went out to a bad surprise. The fire pit had sunk, the flagstones around it were tipped up around it, the gas ring just under the glass beads was sticking out above them, rusted to pieces already, and sure enough the gas line under the stone was pinched off and the firepit didn't work anymore.
I was sick about it, that was a hell of a lot of money, and because the stone was installed with a forklift I didn't know how it could be fixed. The water feature still worked, but soon the outlet for it quit working also (there wasn't a "switch", they installed an outlet inside a 4" PVC pipe and I had to use a chopstick to turn it on via the circuit breaker buttons, my hand wouldn't fit)). This was during the worst time I was having at my job too, I ended up sitting in the house the entire summer.
Well, its a new year, and I have a new job now. I went to a home show a couple weeks ago, found a different patio company, told him the story, and he sounded very confident he could fix everything. Came out for a look-see last weekend, said "No problem", gave me a bid, and we shook hands. He came out yesterday and got everything fixed in about five hours, he even charged me only 70% of what his bid was! :banana-rock: :banana-rock: :banana-rock:
Using a lever he was able to tip the firepit rock onto its side, sure enough the gas line had been pinched. He dug a 3'-deep hole directly under the firepit, filled it with gravel, then molded a drain/footings on both sides of the hole in cement, with a drain tube to the gravel column (Jamhead, I assume that's the screenings or ABC you mentioned above). What happened is that, as rain and melting snow in the pit itself ran down the center hole where the gas line comes up, it just hits the soil (sand in my case) under the stone and eventually washed away enough to let the entire stone drop, the column of gravel will now allow water to dissipate without washing anything away. He also redid the gas plumbing, much neater installation now and won't need the stupid artificial shrubberies I used the first summer. Finally, he replaced the rusted gas ring with a stainless-steel double ring, gas holes facing down; he said that will spread the flame nicer and also not allow rain to enter the ring at all.
He hardwired the water pump in the ground, then installed a switch with an outlet on the wall of my house, so I can reach over to a simple rocker switch instead of aiming a stupid chopstick down a hole in the ground to hit a circuit breaker button, much cleaner and simpler installation. :banana-rock:
He also recommended his team re-set the flagstone, that wasn't done quite right either, but it can wait a year or two. He said he uses a new "paver sand" in between the stones, that solidifies once it gets wet; that would solve my issue of the sand blowing all over the place whenever I sweep or blow leaves or grass clippings, I will probably do that once I save up a few more nickels.
The contractor I originally hired, I learned, changes their name every winter, shakes off any negative reviews on Yelp; lesson learned. :x
Here's to a better year, folks!
bscene-drinkingcheers:
jamhead said:
Mr. Jamhead, you were quite prescient, two years ago. :text-bravo: :bow-blue:
This setup worked nice that first summer, I was out there just about every night. Last spring, after the snow melted I went out to a bad surprise. The fire pit had sunk, the flagstones around it were tipped up around it, the gas ring just under the glass beads was sticking out above them, rusted to pieces already, and sure enough the gas line under the stone was pinched off and the firepit didn't work anymore.
I was sick about it, that was a hell of a lot of money, and because the stone was installed with a forklift I didn't know how it could be fixed. The water feature still worked, but soon the outlet for it quit working also (there wasn't a "switch", they installed an outlet inside a 4" PVC pipe and I had to use a chopstick to turn it on via the circuit breaker buttons, my hand wouldn't fit)). This was during the worst time I was having at my job too, I ended up sitting in the house the entire summer.
Well, its a new year, and I have a new job now. I went to a home show a couple weeks ago, found a different patio company, told him the story, and he sounded very confident he could fix everything. Came out for a look-see last weekend, said "No problem", gave me a bid, and we shook hands. He came out yesterday and got everything fixed in about five hours, he even charged me only 70% of what his bid was! :banana-rock: :banana-rock: :banana-rock:
Using a lever he was able to tip the firepit rock onto its side, sure enough the gas line had been pinched. He dug a 3'-deep hole directly under the firepit, filled it with gravel, then molded a drain/footings on both sides of the hole in cement, with a drain tube to the gravel column (Jamhead, I assume that's the screenings or ABC you mentioned above). What happened is that, as rain and melting snow in the pit itself ran down the center hole where the gas line comes up, it just hits the soil (sand in my case) under the stone and eventually washed away enough to let the entire stone drop, the column of gravel will now allow water to dissipate without washing anything away. He also redid the gas plumbing, much neater installation now and won't need the stupid artificial shrubberies I used the first summer. Finally, he replaced the rusted gas ring with a stainless-steel double ring, gas holes facing down; he said that will spread the flame nicer and also not allow rain to enter the ring at all.
He hardwired the water pump in the ground, then installed a switch with an outlet on the wall of my house, so I can reach over to a simple rocker switch instead of aiming a stupid chopstick down a hole in the ground to hit a circuit breaker button, much cleaner and simpler installation. :banana-rock:
He also recommended his team re-set the flagstone, that wasn't done quite right either, but it can wait a year or two. He said he uses a new "paver sand" in between the stones, that solidifies once it gets wet; that would solve my issue of the sand blowing all over the place whenever I sweep or blow leaves or grass clippings, I will probably do that once I save up a few more nickels.
The contractor I originally hired, I learned, changes their name every winter, shakes off any negative reviews on Yelp; lesson learned. :x
Here's to a better year, folks!
bscene-drinkingcheers: