28 Common Items You Can Repurpose Into DIY Backyard Fire Pits

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For many homeowners passionate about outdoor entertaining, a backyard isn't complete without a fire pit to sit around, toasting marshmallows, sipping on tasty beverages, and telling tall tales late into the evening. While ready-made tabletop fire pits might be on the cheaper side to buy new, a large quality outdoor fire pit you can set up on your lawn and patio and light a fire in as soon as it arrives on your doorstep is likely to set you back hundreds, even thousands, of dollars. If you've got a knack for repurposing and up-cycling common items, figuring out how to create a DIY fire pit in your yard is easier than you might think.

Metal is the go-to material for fire pits since it's innately fire resistant. With a bit of cutting, you can transform everything from washing machine drums and stock tanks to propane bottles and trash cans — all disused and empty, of course. You could even weld old plow discs, horseshoes, or heavy metal chains into unique fire pit bowls. Channel your creativity and transform a wheelbarrow, shopping cart, cooking pot, or beer kegs into your dream backyard burner. Stone and concrete are also good fire pit making materials. Stack reclaimed or leftover bricks, pavers, concrete blocks, or river stones in a ring to make rustic fire pit walls. If you don't have space for something huge, craft a tabletop fire pit using candles and an empty spirits bottle box or an ammo can and a burner head.

Sit the wheel rim on some bricks on your lawn, pile in the firewood, and light it up. Done! For something more contemporary, craft a flat ring from sheet metal and sit it atop two stacked wheel rims. Spray the fire pit with a fireproof paint in cement gray. Alternatively, stack and weld together three rims to create a tower-style fire pit with an opening on one side for easy cleaning. You could wrap wire mesh around the open center of the tower for safety, or add a grill on top.

Cut a standing barrel in half and separate each half using lengths of rebar. Or lay the barrel on its side, cut it in half lengthways, and cover rectangular cutouts in the lid with wire mesh. You can also use just one half — no lid needed. Make the pit your own by cutting sculptured sides from the barrel and adding ornate metal legs. A single BayTec 55 Gallon Used or Reconditioned Steel Drum costs almost $140. You might, however, be able to find something smaller or locally for a cheaper price.

Looking for creative DIY projects to upcycle leftover bricks to use in your garden? A no-tool brick fire pit involves simply tracing a circle on your lawn with builder's chalk, shoveling out the turf, and stacking the bricks in an alternating pattern, making the walls as short or tall as you wish. If you're looking for something more permanent, fix the bricks in place using construction adhesive or trowel on mortar as you would when building a traditional brick wall. Dig out a hole to sink the pit into your lawn if you wish.

Choose a spot in your lawn for your fire pit and dig out a depression. Creating an in-ground bowl shields your eyes from smoke and keeps embers from jumping out of the fire, making it safer. Then, simply stack the stones around the edge of the hole, similar to building a dry stone wall. Avoid porous rocks — they crack when damp. Instead, look for natural stone boulders of granite, basalt, and lava rock. If you've collected rocks for free, wash them and discard any that have already cracked. Contain higher walls between two rings of wire mesh.

Build a paver fire pit on an existing paved patio or custom-build the patio before crafting your fire pit. Place a metal fire pit ring in the center of your fire pit area and stack the pavers around it. Don't want to invest in a fire pit ring? Simply stack the bricks in a circle or inside a depression, fill the center with cobblestones, brush some sand between the cracks, and pile in the firewood. You could also line the center of the circle with thin, flat bricks mortared vertically to the pavers.

Measure out your fire pit based on the measurements of the concrete blocks you've managed to find or forage. Dig out a shallow pit and fill it with sand or gravel. Level the surface and lay your blocks as you would a wall. Concrete blocks are hollow, so top the wall off with concrete block caps to stop the holes from collecting water, debris, or critters. Concrete is porous, so expect some cracking of the blocks over time; factor a line item into your household budget for future fire pit rebuilding or buying replacement blocks.

It's easy to upcycle an old washing machine into a fire pit on a budget. Take the metal perforated drum out of the machine, remove superfluous parts, put it in the center of your campfire circle, and fill it with firewood. Make your new fire pit look less washing-machine-part by painting it with stove paint — Chimney Plus Satin Black High Temp Stove Bright Fireplace Paint costs about $23. Prop the drum fire pit up on ornate legs from a metal patio chair or table. This DIY works with an old clothes dryer drum too.

Metal wheelbarrows are hardy pieces of equipment, so little needs to be done to make them fire resistant. You have a few choices when DIYing a backyard fire pit using this old garden tool. Your first option is to leave the tray and wheel on the frame of the barrow, transforming it into a portable fire pit that you can easily bring in and out of storage as needed. If you're after something more permanent, unscrew the tray from the frame and place it on a fireproof surface, like a cobbled patio or even just dirt.

Make a fire pit in a jiffy with an old satellite dish, three empty coffee cans, and some screws. Remove all the hardware from the satellite dish until you're left with just the dish itself. Position the dish atop the coffee cans — they're what will keep your fire pit off the ground — and screw them into place. If you really want to turn an old satellite dish into a stunning backyard feature, add some simple black metal legs. A 4-piece set of Fulushouxi 7 Inch Adjustable Metal Cabinet Legs costs about $10.

Insert a few tiki torches into a flower pot filled with sand, pea gravel, and a couple of metal ductwork tubes. Pop a stainless steel bowl inside a large bowl-shaped planter and surround it with decorative stones and wire mesh, and use a funnel to carefully fill the bowl with bio ethanol fuel. Make a tabletop version using a mini bowl planter and a gel fuel can or coals. Hide a propane tank inside a barrel planter and place the burner on a tabletop above for a truly ultra-chic outdoor fire pit.

For this tabletop fire pit DIY, you'll need a Royal Imports Acrylic Square Tapered Flower Vase for about $16 and a GoodCook 9 Inch Everyday Nonstick Steel Round Cake Pan for about $7. Glue the upturned vase to the bottom of the cake pan and spray your creation with a stone-look paint. Pop a gel fuel can in the center of the cake pan and fill the space around it with decorative stones. Use your portable mini fire pit to roast marshmallows or add ambiance to an alfresco dinner party.

Sticking with the mini vibe, you can also craft cute tabletop fire pits from large empty food cans. At its simplest, this project involves stuffing the bottom of the tin can with some bundled up aluminum foil, popping a gel fuel can on top, and wrapping a ring made from aluminum foil around the can to hold it securely in place. Add some personality to your teeny tabletop fire pits by topping the can with decorative stones or glass pebbles or decorating the outside with stick-on vinyl or paint.

Feeling the need for a backyard fire but your permanent pit is yet to be built? If you have some large logs lying about, channel your inner Viking and craft a Nordic fire log, also known as a Swedish torch. With the log standing upright, cut an asterisk shape into the top using your axe. Place it in the center of your campfire circle and build a fire in the center. You can use the same method to transform leftover lumber into a fire pit, too. Just make sure it's untreated before setting it alight.

If you live in a rural area, you've likely heard of plow discs: steel discs fitted to field tilling machinery. Weld a steel handle and stand to a single large plow disc to make a simple move-anywhere backyard fire pit. Or weld multiple small discs together to form a bowl-style pit. It's financially savvy to attempt this DIY only if you have welding equipment and can source discarded plow discs for free or cheap. New discs are costly — for example, a lot of 4 Pro Parts Place 18 Inch Notched Harrow Blades go for about $115.

Got a huge old metal frying pan you can no longer use for cooking? Cut slots into the bottom for air flow and easy ash clean-up using a circular saw. Drill four holes, also in the bottom, and bolt in place four HIPICCO M6 x 150mm Fully Threaded Stainless Steel Rods for about $8. Spray the piece with heat-proof oven paint in the hue of your choice, and add a wooden handle for ease of use. Pop your creation on your patio table, fill the bowl of the frying pan with firewood, and set it alight.

You'll need access to welding equipment for this fire pit DIY. Welder in hand, join individual horseshoes into a bowl shape over a metal mold or use the horseshoes to first create a stand and then add the convex horseshoe walls onto that. Alternatively, attach the horseshoes to a stand made from scrap metal — a large pan, a ring, or even an old Bobcat wheel track. A set of twelve new GGTYHAO Cast Iron Horseshoes costs about $37. Don't want to spend that much? Weld some old metal tools into a bowl shape instead!

Simply build a circle of bricks or pavers in your backyard, drop the round BBQ base inside it, and add some firewood. You can also take the legs off an outdoor kitchen-style grill, sit it on your patio or the lawn, and build your fire pit inside the cooking area. Prefer a fire pit that sits above ground? Turn an old Weber grill into a backyard fireball by keeping the original stand intact and inserting a mesh panel between the lid and the base, allowing the heat of the fire to escape.

Don't have the yard for an in-ground fire pit? Turn a long, skinny cardboard whisky or wine bottle box into a tabletop fire pit by covering it with painted craft sticks — a 100-pack of KTOJOY Jumbo Wooden Popsicle Sticks costs about $5 — and adding glass panels on all four sides. Drop three or so fuel cans — a 6-pack of Sterno S'mores Heat Ethanol Fuel Cans costs about $17 — into the center and fill the space around them with decorative gravel. Use your fire pit centerpiece on your patio table.

Got a repurposed long galvanised steel stock tank? Turn it into a propane or natural gas-powered fire pit by placing an Onlyfire Stainless Steel Fire Pit H-Burner (about $46) inside before filling it with ornamental gravel. If you prefer a wood-burning fire pit, place a small circular stock tank inside a larger one. Fill the outside circle with large, round river rocks to insulate the fire you'll light inside the smaller central tank. Or, if you just want something simple, light a fire inside a single stock tank.

Whether you've got a water storage tank or a hot water heater tank, if it's metal, it'll work. Lay the tank on its side and cut it in half lengthways, creating a long, thin trough. Prop it up on stands made from concrete and fill it with firewood. Alternatively, cut the tank in half and use the half with the tapered mouth (a built-in stand) for your fire pit. Paint it with oven paint for a contemporary look or prop it up on a large paver to protect your lawn or patio.

Just as with the water tank above, you can cut the propane tank in half either lengthways or around the middle to create a long and shallow or short and squat fire pit. An important safety warning: Make sure you remove the valve and fill the tank with water before cutting to avoid injuries. If you have the right tools, personalize your propane bottle fire pit by cutting star shapes in or fluting the top of the walls and adding ornate legs to keep the heat from ruining outdoor surfaces or handles for portability.

Cut the top off the keg or cut the keg in half using your circular saw or a plasma cutter. Cut some holes into the bottom and sides to improve airflow. If you're artsy, get creative with your cut out patterns. The legs can be something as simple as large screws bolted onto the bottom. Some beer kegs are made from stainless steel, while others are made from aluminum. Make sure the keg you're transforming into a fire pit is the former, as aluminum doesn't perform as well in high temperatures.

Turn a metal shopping cart into a fire pit by removing anything plastic or otherwise flammable and tipping the cart onto its side or leaving it upright and adding a mesh lid. Pile up your firewood in the center. The walls and floor of the basket act as a built-in safety barrier, protecting guests from the flames. If you don't already have a secondhand shopping cart to transform, you can buy one from a shopping cart refurbishing company — they come in all sizes with costs starting in the low hundreds.

If you don't already have a bin lying around the backyard, but still really want to do this DIY, buy a Behrens 14 Gallon Round Galvanized Weatherproof Steel Tub for $65. Drill four or so long screws into the sides, a little way up from the bottom, and sit a round grilling rack on them. Prop the tub up on four bricks on your lawn or patio. Alternatively, drill some holes in the base of a large metal bucket to create a petite version of this repurposed backyard fire pit.

Don a pair of heavy-duty gloves and grab your circular saw; we're transforming that big metal trash can you just replaced with a new one into a fire pit. Cut the base of the can and then cut strips from the remaining top portion. Bend those in toward the center of the can, then flip the base upside down and insert it into the remaining top portion, where it becomes a holder for the firewood. Keep the lid so you can put it back on the fire pit when it's not in use.

Got a large cast iron or stainless steel cooking pot that's scratched or dented beyond repair? It makes a great fire pit for backyards or outdoor living rooms where space is at a premium. You can simply place the pot on a non-flammable surface — gravel, bricks, or concrete — and light a fire inside. Cut out some air holes for more oxygen if needed. Keep the fire going longer and bring up the heat by fitting a larger pot inside a smaller pot using metal brackets.

Did you know empty ammo cans make incredibly efficient fire pits? All you need to do to transform these highly durable metal boxes into a pit for your next backyard party is remove the lid of the can, drill a hole in one end, and insert a propane burner. You can get a Handmade Store Overland Ammo Can Fire Pit Burner Kit for about $70, or buy all the parts in the kit separately yourself. Add angle brackets for feet if you want to keep your fire pit off the ground.

It's time to pull out that welding equipment once again. This time, you're going to coil that length of heavy-duty stainless steel or iron chain you picked up cheap from that yard sale years ago into a big shallow bowl, welding it together as you go. Sit it on your lawn as is and pile up the firewood inside, or add on feet made of more chain or scrap metal cut to shape. Switch out the chain link for track chain to create a fire pit with industrial chic vibes.