Installing an outdoor fireplace is a wonderful way to enhance your fresh-air living space while creating a focal point for gatherings with friends and family. A well-designed fireplace can add warmth and ambiance as well as functional living space to your backyard—while increasing the value of your property.
This guide covers everything you need to know about designing and installing an outdoor fireplace:
Useful features
Design ideas
Information on the best materials
Tips for maintenance
Wood storage & care considerations
Useful Features for Any Outdoor Fireplace
The features you select for your outdoor fireplace and surrounding area can help ensure the final structure’s harmony with the overall look and feel of your home, as well as its usefulness.
Feature selection is a great place to start with your outdoor fireplace planning, so you’ve chosen all the functionality that aligns with your lifestyle and aesthetic preferences before you finalize designs. Here are some popular options:
Customized Paver Rug Patio: Enhance your outdoor fireplace area with a customized paver rug patio. Mimicking the look of an actual rug, a patio paver inset can be specially designed to complement the materials and patterns of your fireplace stone, creating a cohesive and complementary look.
A paver rug can draw out the distinctive colors of your fireplace—warm earth tones, cool grays and blues, or whatever style you choose. The result is a dynamic look that adds visual interest as the light shifts throughout each day: as hues vary from morning to evening to night, the overall look of the fireplace area remains cohesive, and the impression of a complete and welcoming living space calls you into the outdoors.
Stone Seating: Built-in stone seating ensures you always have enough space for guests to perch around your outdoor fireplace. It enhances the look of the fireplace area while serving as an invitation for guests to relax and linger.
Pizza Oven: Increase your fireplace’s functionality (and fun factor) by adding a place to cook amazing food! A stone or brick pizza oven is a memory-making addition to any outdoor fireplace. Bonus: it’s not just a place to cook pizza! Try s’mores, bread, and other treats as well.
Cooking Grate or Rotisserie Spit Forks: Add more cooking functionality by including specialized cooking tools in your outdoor fireplace, like grates or spit forks. This allows you to cook meals while enjoying the fire, increasing the utility of your fireplace and offering a flavor option that is hard to achieve in the kitchen.
Wood Storage: Customized wood storage that blends with your outdoor fireplace is a highly useful feature that brings cozy visual appeal. Many homeowners opt for a wood-storage opening next to the fire itself, in a similar size and shape. But you can also get creative: add an opening on each side of the fire; juxtapose the shapes of wood storage with the shape of the fire opening; or consider different locations for wood, such as tucked-in sections under built-in stone benches.
Special Lighting: While it might sound counterintuitive to add lighting to a fireplace, special lighting can be used to highlight your outdoor fireplace as a focal point. This enhances the nighttime aesthetics and usability of your outdoor living space.
Easy-to-Clean Facing: An outdoor fireplace can easily lose its luster (literally) after a few uses. By choosing finishes for your outdoor fireplace that are easy to clean and stain-resistant, you can ensure that your fireplace remains attractive and maintains its value over time.
Outdoor Fireplace Design Ideas
Once you’ve chosen which features you want to include in your outdoor fireplace, the next step is to explore various decor options. Let's dive into some inspiring outdoor fireplace design ideas:
Outdoor Fireplace with Open Sides: A fireplace with multiple openings can be a striking feature in your landscape design. With more than one way to admire the flames and feel the heat, open sides allow you more flexibility to adjust seating arrangements and enjoy the fireplace from different angles, depending on the night's mood and the direction of the breeze.
A Perfect Pair: Pairing a crackling fire and the tranquil rhythm of flowing water can make your outdoor fireplace environment one-of-a-kind. Try combining an outdoor fireplace with a water feature, or adding a fireplace next to an existing fountain, creek, or pond.
Sleek and Simple: A zero-bevel surface for the blocks, contrasted with stainless steel accents, creates a sleek aesthetic. This design option typically diverges from the traditional tower shape and features a shorter fireplace unit.
Furniture and Electronics: Adding cushioned outdoor sofas, armchairs, and a coffee table can create a cozy living room feel. Installing a flat-screen TV or projector screen suitable for outdoor use allows you to enjoy games and movies by the fire. And adding speakers lets you listen to your favorite music while you enjoy your fireplace.
Fire Pit: We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that a simple but beautiful fire pit could suit your preferences better than an outdoor fireplace (or in addition to it). Fire pits are positioned low to the ground, creating a space for gathering and conversation. Custom-made fire pits can be designed to burn wood or gas, offering flexibility to meet your needs.
Whatever the aesthetic, an outdoor fireplace helps you to bring indoor activities—like cooking, games, and lingering hearthside conversations—into the great outdoors. Enjoying a game or relaxing with your family around the fire extends your living space into the fresh air, giving you the opportunity to savor the beauty of your patio and the warmth of a fire.
Best Materials to Incorporate Into an Outdoor Fireplace
One of the best parts of a backyard is the unique comfort of enjoying a fire on calm, cool Michigan nights. There are many options for the materials to use in building an outdoor fireplace that complements your home. Consider these 6 best materials to incorporate into an outdoor fireplace:
Natural Stone: Natural stone is a popular choice for outdoor fireplaces because it offers many possibilities for color, size, style, and shape. It gives your fireplace a textured, natural feel balanced with a sophisticated, upscale look. The stone you choose should match or complement any stone on your house or in other hardscape areas. And mixing large and small stones can create a more varied and appealing design.
Read more: See some of the different types of flagstone we use
Bricks: Brick is ideal for creating a traditional setting, especially as an extension of a home with a brick exterior. That said, sometimes finding a size and style that matches a weathered existing brick exterior takes some extra effort, because natural brick, usually in shades of red, varies by region due to differences in the clay's mineral compounds.
Brick fireplaces are typically wood-burning and are often built in a more linear style than stone fireplaces.
Concrete: Unlike the rugged appeal of stone or the elegance of brick, concrete fireplaces are usually built in a rectangular, linear style. While concrete is safe as it won't catch fire, it can crack during freeze-thaw cycles, making it questionable in our climate. Concrete can also be used as a base material, then covered with a stone veneer for added appeal.
Stucco: A stucco fireplace fits perfectly in southwestern, Spanish, or Mediterranean-inspired designs. Stucco is non-flammable and a good heat conductor, creating a warm environment for backyard activities. And it can be colored in almost any hue to match the existing house—from mellow tones to a bright color to help it stand out.
Materials for Outdoor Fireplace Alternatives
You may be considering a fire pit, fire bowl, or chiminea instead of or in addition to you outdoor fireplace. Here are some smart materials for these simpler fire features:
Clay: A small clay fire structure can add old-world charm to your backyard. Available in various sizes and colors, from white to tan, red, or gray, clay fire pits (often called chimineas) can be simple or intricately decorated. They are durable and can withstand high heat, providing warmth from early spring to late fall.
Modern Metal: Metal is commonly used for fire pits, fire bowls, chimineas, or tabletop fireplaces. Fire bowls and tabletop fireplaces often use propane, while fire pits and chimineas typically burn wood. Choose durable metal structures that can withstand high heat and outdoor elements.
How to Clean and Maintain Your Outdoor Fireplace
Once you've designed your fireplace and selected the right materials to complement your yard, you can ensure its longevity and performance through proper cleaning and maintenance. This will keep your fireplace safe, functional, and looking its best.
Here’s what you need to know about maintaining your outdoor fireplace to enjoy it for years to come:
Wood-Burning Fireplace Maintenance:
Remove any cobwebs, debris, and old wood pieces from the firebox.
Each spring, use mild soap, warm water, and a stiff brush to clean away any residue from the previous winter.
Trim back any branches that grow over the fireplace, and ensure no vines or weeds have infiltrated any cracks.
Gas Fireplace Maintenance:
Check the burners for clogs, debris, or rust.
Clean the burners with a soft brush to clear any blockages.
Test the fan and other components to ensure they are working correctly.
Check the starter for any rust or disrepair.
Chimney Maintenance:
The chimney can harbor a build-up of creosote from the wood you’ve burned. If the creosote is more than 1/8 inch thick, the fireplace needs to be professionally cleaned. Not attending to the creosote build-up can create conditions for a fire hazard.
Any build-up on the flue should also be removed before using your outdoor fireplace again.
Ways to Store Wood for Your Outdoor Fireplace
Every fireplace needs fuel, and you’re more likely to use it (and enjoy it) if you have a ready supply of dry, well-stored firewood. Here are some of the best ways to store firewood to keep it dry, accessible, and ready for those fireside evenings:
Long-Term Firewood Storage:
A wood shed can be the best way to store larger quantities of firewood.
The shed should be open on one side to allow for air circulation, keeping your wood dry and fungus-free.
It’s also a good idea to stack firewood off the ground, using pallets or 2x4s to create necessary airflow.
To prevent pests and moisture issues, avoid storing firewood in your garage or against your home.
Short-Term Firewood Storage:
For easy access during the coldest days, consider storage immediately adjacent to the fireplace.
This can be accomplished with a built-in firewood cubby, as described above, or a portable log rack.
Always use old firewood first. And avoid spraying firewood with insecticide, to prevent toxic fumes when burning.
Have more questions for Decra-Scape about your dream outdoor fireplace? We’d love to discuss the options with you.
