The fire you sit around, not the one you sit in front of.
Custom Fire Pit Installation Across Georgia
A fire pit is the simplest thing in this part of a backyard and the one most often used. It is built into a patio or stands on its own, people sit all the way round it, and it costs a fraction of a built fireplace. Where it goes and what is underneath it matter more than what it is made of. Aqualis Pools also takes on projects across Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.
A Gathering Space That Brings People Together
Fire Pit, Fire Bowl or Fireplace
There are three ways to put fire in a backyard and they are not variations on one thing. Getting the right one is most of the decision.
A fire pit. Open, low, and sociable, because everyone faces in. It is the cheapest of the three and the one that gets used casually, which is usually what people actually want when they say they want a fire.
A fire bowl by the pool. Raised, usually gas, set on a wall or on coping so it reads against the water and the reflection does half the work. That is a different product with a different job, and it has its own page: fire features.
An outdoor fireplace. A built structure with a chimney and a front. You sit facing it rather than around it, and it gives a seating area a direction. It costs several times what a pit costs and it changes a space more. Set out on our outdoor fireplaces page.
If the honest answer is that you want somewhere for six or eight people to sit together on a cool evening without much ceremony, the pit is the right answer and the other two are more money for a different experience.
Wood or Gas
The existing page says the choice exists. Here is how to make it.
Wood. The fire people picture: the sound, the smell, and something to do with your hands. It also means keeping dry wood, clearing ash, and accepting the smoke. Smoke goes where the wind takes it, and with seating all the way round a pit that means it is in somebody’s face for part of the evening. That is not a fault to be engineered away, it is the deal, and it is worth knowing before you choose it.
Gas. On in seconds, off in seconds, no smoke, no ash, nothing to store. It needs a gas line run to the position or a propane tank location decided before the pit is built, and the tank has to live somewhere reachable and out of sight. The flame is smaller and the heat is gentler than a wood fire, which some people prefer and some find disappointing, and it is worth seeing one lit before deciding.
The practical tiebreaker. Wood suits people who want the evening to be about the fire. Gas suits people who want to sit outside on a Tuesday without planning it. Neither is the better product; they are answers to different questions.
Where It Goes, and What Is Underneath It
Placement is the part that decides whether a fire pit is a pleasure or a problem, and it is decided once.
Distance from anything that burns. The house, a fence, a boundary planting, a timber structure. It is a straightforward thing to get right on a drawing and an expensive thing to discover afterwards.
What is overhead. An overhanging branch or the edge of a pavilion roof above a wood fire is the detail most likely to be missed, because nobody looks up while standing on an empty lawn.
What is underneath. On a patio or a properly built base it is straightforward, and that is a hardscaping job done at the same time as the surface. On a raised custom deck it is a different conversation: a fire pit sits directly on the surface and radiates heat downward, with no chimney carrying anything away, so it has to be designed into the deck with the base under it decided at the same time. On a deck that is already built, the answer is sometimes no, and that is better heard early.
Which way the wind usually comes from. Ten minutes standing in the garden answers this and it decides where a wood pit should sit relative to the house and the neighbours. It is the cheapest piece of design on the whole page.
Sizing It for the People, Not the Space
The mistake worth avoiding is sizing it to the garden instead of to the people. A pit sized for twelve puts the people opposite one another too far apart to talk across the fire, which is the one thing a fire pit exists to make possible.
Size it for the number of people who will actually sit at it on an ordinary evening, then set the seating close enough to feel the heat without leaning in. The seating distance is as much a part of the design as the pit itself, and it is worth deciding before any pool decking or paving is set, because it changes the shape of the surface around it.
What a Fire Pit Costs
Less than anything else in this cluster, which is why it is often the first thing built and sometimes the only thing needed. What moves the number: whether it is wood or gas, how far a gas line has to run if it is gas, the material and the size, whether the surrounding surface is being built at the same time, and whether any groundwork is needed before the base.
Where a fire pit forms part of a larger project, pool financing options apply to it in the same way they apply to the pool.
Where It Sits in the Rest of the Backyard
A pit is often the piece that fixes where the seating goes, which makes it worth positioning at the same time as an outdoor kitchen rather than afterwards: people want to be near enough to talk to whoever is cooking and far enough from the grill to be comfortable, and the fire is usually what defines that second spot.
How the whole sequence works against a pool, a deck and the ground between them is set out on our outdoor living page.
What Our Clients Say
Aqualis Pools is rated 5.0 on Google, from a small number of reviews, and every one can be read on the profile.
Fire Pits Across Georgia
We design and build fire pits for homeowners in Lawrenceville, Buford, Loganville, Athens, Auburn and nearby Georgia communities. The full list is on our service areas page, and finished work is in the gallery .
Frequently Asked Questions
Wood gives you the fire people picture, and it means storing dry wood, clearing ash and accepting smoke that moves with the wind. Gas lights in seconds, leaves nothing to clean and needs a gas line or a propane position decided before the pit is built, with a smaller flame and a gentler heat. Wood suits an evening that is about the fire; gas suits sitting outside on a weeknight without planning it.
A fire pit is open and low and people sit all the way around it. A fire bowl is raised, usually gas, and normally set by the pool where it works against the water. A fireplace is a built structure with a chimney that you sit in front of rather than around. A pit is the cheapest and the most sociable; a fireplace costs several times as much and changes a space more.
Sometimes, and it has to be designed into the deck rather than added to one already built, because a pit sits directly on the surface and radiates heat downward with no chimney taking it away. What goes underneath it has to be decided at the same time as the framing. On a patio or a proper base at ground level it is far simpler.
Far enough from the house, fences, planting and any timber structure; clear of anything overhead, including branches and the edge of a roof; and positioned with the usual wind direction in mind if it burns wood. Ten minutes standing in the garden before anything is drawn answers most of it.
Sized for the people, not the garden. Built too large, the people opposite each other end up too far apart to talk across the fire, which defeats the point. Work out how many will realistically sit at it on an ordinary evening and set the seating close enough to feel the heat without leaning in.
It is the shortest job in this part of the backyard, and it is shorter still when the surrounding surface is being built at the same time.
Start Planning Your Fire Pit
Two answers get this priced quickly. Wood or gas? And is it going onto a surface that already exists, or one we are building anyway? The first decides what has to be run to it; the second decides most of the cost.
Call (770) 373-8405 or send us a message.