If your home came with a fire pit—or you’re thinking of adding one—there are numerous caveats to keep in mind. The pit’s size and location should be planned in advance. Furthermore, if your deck or patio is made of pavers, how will they hold up under extreme heat?
Fire pits do indeed cause damage to pavers over time. This goes for all three of the most common pavers: concrete, brick, and natural stone. But take heart, because there are proven measures to protect the area around a fire pit. Additionally, pavers are fairly simple to replace.
So if you’re looking to install a fire pit but are worried about destroying the lovely pavers in your decorative mosaic, you’re in the right place. This article will begin with how a fire pit can damage concrete pavers. Then, I’ll provide some tips on how to nip underlying problems in the bud and provide a few substitutes for fire pits.
How Does a Fire Pit Damage Concrete Pavers?
Concrete is 100% non-flammable, but that doesn’t make it impermeable to extreme heat. Quite the contrary, the toasty plumes given off by your fire pit can—and will, over time—change the chemistry of the concrete mixture, damaging and cracking your pavers.
Heat and Consequences
Before we get ahead of ourselves, I should point out that fire pits burn at about 600 °F (316 °C) once lit. This temperature won’t hurt your pavers; however, as the fire pit blazes into full glory, its temperature can reach over 1500 °F (816 °C). Now we have a problem!
Repeated exposure to heat of this magnitude will eventually dehydrate concrete pavers (which have a certain amount of moisture in them all the time). Dehydration of concrete pavers leads to cracking, along with that change in chemistry I already mentioned. This change is known as calcination and appears as chalky white “squiggles” in the paver.
But as the snake-oil salesmen are fond of saying: That’s not all. Most concrete pavers have tiny little air bubbles trapped inside of them. These bubbles occur during the paver mixing and molding process.
Thus, if hot enough, the paver can pop like an advertisement for Orville Redenbacher. (You want your popcorn over the fire, friend, not under it).
Protecting Concrete Pavers
A neat thing about pavers of any kind is you don’t actually need to protect them—instead, you can just swap them out. That’s right, Mr. Paver: You’re expendable.
Unlike concrete slabs, pavers come in sections. Sometimes the sections are pre-molded, and sometimes they’re created on the job site. Whichever the case, owners can change damaged ones out, enduring minimal fuss. If your patio is made of concrete pavers, you probably have a small stockpile of spares on hand.
If you are interested in protecting the pavers, here are some ideas I recommend:
- Use a fire pit pad
- Use a fire ring
- Surround the fire pit with brick pavers
Pit pads, or fire pad mats, are heat-resistant mats that go under your fire pit. They are typically made of rubber, polyester, and other non-flammable materials. This method will only work for fire pads on stilts. If the pit is set into the ground, mats are not a viable option.
You may wish to invest in a fire ring instead. A fire pit ring’s main job is to encircle the blaze so embers don’t float off and end up burning down your house (too much ambiance—way too much). But the ring can also protect the surrounding area. It does this by absorbing heat and distributing it away from the pavers.
Lastly, you can surround the fire pit with brick pavers. Brick is tough against extreme heat—any old-time pizza oven will tell you as much. Using fire bricks or fire clay mortar around a fire pit is a brilliant alternative to concrete pavers.
Can I Use Natural Stone Pavers Near a Fire Pit?
Natural stone is more expensive and durable than concrete. That first point steers many homeowners toward using stamped concrete made to look like natural stone instead. But if you’ve got the real McCoy, plus a fire pit, precautions are still a must.
Like with concrete, fire pits cause damage to natural stone over time. It happens in many of the same ways. Extreme heat can weaken stones and cause spalling (chipping and flaking). Natural stone pavers can also accumulate a layer of soot that is hard to scrub off.
Also like concrete, stone can pop. This is especially true for sandstone and limestone pavers, which are porous and may contain tiny pockets of water and air. If you own a patio or deck with natural stone pavers, do be careful about lighting the fire pit just after a rain. Once the pavers heat up, there’s a good chance they can pop.
Best Natural Stone for Fire Pits
Use denser stone around the pit, such as granite or slate. Even so, I am not a big advocate of using natural stone in the vicinity of a fire pit. It’s an expensive material that holds up well against high heat, but not perfectly.
If you must have stone near the fire pit but are no longer keen on pavers, try pea gravel or crushed granite. These are both types of crushed stone that make good alternatives to pavers. Another fine choice is marble chips. Crushed stone near the fire pit will maintain the natural stone vibe of your patio without putting extreme heat on damage repair bills.
That leaves one last paver to discuss. For fire pits, it happens to be the best of the three. Let’s look at how brick pavers hold up against chatting with friends, gazing at the stars…and roasting marshmallows.
What About Brick Pavers?
Mankind has used brick clay for thousands of years. In 1200 B.C., when Aeneas fled Troy (with his father on his shoulder and his son close behind), he passed beneath a defensive wall made of clay brick. That wall held up so well the Greeks had to trick their way in with a giant wooden horse.
Bricks—and more to the point, brick pavers—also hold up well near a fire pit. Brick pavers are made of cast clay that is heat-cured. In fact, they’re heat-cured at 1800 °F (982 °C). This makes them almost ideal for use around a fire pit.
Brick Paver Problems and Cures
Your troubles with brick pavers—most of them, anyway—won’t actually come from the fire pit. Rather, it’ll be the bricks themselves and how they react to the environment.
Rain and sun will affect their appearance. Over time the pavers will begin to flake under the weather. Also, the pavers nearest to the fire pit will likely develop a layer of soot. There are ways to protect them, however.
Here they are:
- Wash the pavers at least once a year with a pressure washer.
- Clean off soot with soap, water, a brush, and some elbow grease.
- Repair any cracks in the mortar with fresh mortar.
- Seal the pavers (there are a lot of brands on the market).
About that third tip: I recommend using mortar around a fire pit; otherwise, space is left between the pavers for grass and weeds to take hold. Grass and weeds create a fire hazard that you don’t need.
So there we have three different kinds of pavers and how they hold up against fire pits. Now, what if your pavers are already damaged beyond repair? Don’t worry—here’s how to replace them.
Replacing Pavers
There’s no big trick to replacing pavers. If you’ve never done it before, let me assure you the process is fairly simple.
Here are the basic steps:
- Loosen the old paver’s connection to the ground and other pavers.
- With a hammer and chisel, pound a cross into the damaged paver.
- Lift the pieces out.
Now you have an empty socket that’s ready for a new paver. Congrats—you’re about halfway to earning a dentistry degree.
Here’s how to put a new paver in:
- Re-level the gravel base.
- Insert the paver carefully.
- Spread joint sand (or new mortar if the paver is brick) inside the paver borders.
- Tap the paver and sand into place with a rubber hammer.
And there you have it—a freshly placed new paver. If you think I made the job seem a little too easy, here’s a short video on how it’s done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiJurvxWz30
Before you replace a paver, make sure you know what caused the damage in the first place. In this case, the culprit is likely the fire pit. Did it scorch or flake the paver? Did the paver pop?
Whatever happened, you don’t want it happening again. Take care that the pavers are protected from the fire pit.
In Review: Protecting Pavers Around a Fire Pit
Since we’re nearing the end of the article, let’s briefly review how to protect different kinds of pavers around a fire pit.
- Protect concrete pavers by placing a heat-resistant fire pad under a raised fire pit or using a fire ring with a sunken pit. You can also use brick pavers for the area around the pit. A 5-foot (152.4-cm) diameter is fine. An aside: Do not sit this close to a fire pit or place any flammable material within 10 feet (304.8 cm) of the flames.
- Protect natural stone pavers by using dense, non-porous stone around the pit. Besides granite and slate (which are fine choices), you can also use quartz or soapstone.
- Protect brick clay pavers by washing them with a pressure washer once a year, then sealing them. As needed, repair any cracks that appear in the mortar.
Your fire pit pavers will hold up fine so long as the necessary care is provided. Still, suppose you’d rather not put up with the fuss of installing heat pads and periodically replacing pavers. In that case, it is possible to swap out the fire pit instead with something a little more paver-friendly.
Fire Pit Alternatives
It could take a while, but fire pits damage pavers. Luckily, patios and decks are not limited to fire pits when it comes to igniting a bit of ambiance. To quote the late actor John Cazale to his sweetheart Meryl Streep: You have options.
Stone Fire Bowl
The right stone fire bowl can look just as pretty as a fire pit. They come in myriad sizes and styles. Many of them are also portable, so the job of packing them away is a piece of cake. Fire bowls will not harm your pavers, as the flames are kept far off the ground.They can also be easier to clean than fire pits.
Fire Columns
Fire columns are tall columns made out of wood or stone. They look absolutely amazing, especially if you’re in the market for a moder modern look.
More importantly for your pavers, the flames burn at the top, well away from them. These pieces work great for smaller patios. And like fire bowls, they’re portable.
Outdoor Fireplace
Not really looking for something portable? Want to go all in instead? Then the outdoor fireplace is just the ticket. These are full-sized fireplaces for your patio. You get the mantle, the hearth, the hood, the frame, and the base. Everything.
Outdoor fireplaces look best when built into a retaining wall, but this is by no means a requirement. The base is normally about 12 to 15 inches (30.48 to 38.1 cm) high, and since the fire burns inside of a box, your patio pavers are perfectly safe.
Final Thoughts
Will a fire pit damage pavers? Yes, indeed it will—but not without a bit of time. Nor should a fire pit put you off the idea of using patio pavers, because really, it’s pretty easy to protect said pavers from the heat.
You’ll get lots of help from the manufacturer or the store where you bought the pit kit. You’ve also gotten some help right here. Thanks for reading. Now please, pass me that bag of marshmallows and a good long stick!
