Outdoor BBQ pit

[amateur eric]

Looking to build my father an outdoor BBQ pit. He already has one, but not very impressive. Anyone know what kinds of stone will be good with high temperatures over long periods of time? Looking on home depot website and they have pavestone for roughly 70 cents per stone. That would be ideal for finance reasons but don't want to waste the money if it won't retain heat properly. Any experience or ideas to share will be appreciated This is what his pit looks like now.

[Tpt life]

Why not any old stone but lined with fire brick and refractory mortar? Takes all the guess work out by following tested principles.

[amateur eric]

Could do that. Didn't know they made fire brick mortar.

[Tpt life]

Fire brick

Refractory mortar

Two concepts.

[amateur eric]

Gotcha. I'll look it up price wise and see if that's possible for the budget

[Tpt life]

I was posting over lunch and was on limited time. There is a newly joined mason who can likely speak better than I, but this is work I have done in small amounts. Take an indoor fire place as your inspiration. Some stone will work, but they usually face the box with fire brick. This is also common inside some steel wood stoves. The facing brick can run on edge, it does not need to be stacked flat like a common bonded brick wall. This thin layer and the refractory cement or mortar will dissipate heat or reflect it (don't remember which) so that it will not break down with the high heat cycle. No matter what stone or brick, you will want the correct mortar in any joint that is exposed to the flame. This assumes that you want this to be of quality that will last awhile.

[wtnhighlander]

Fire brick is much better than natural stone. Choosing a porous stone that absorbs moisture can lead to exploding rocks and shrapnel when the hot fire turns the moisture to steam. I've seen it happen, and it ain't pretty.

[dwacker]

A good son would just buy him a Big Green Egg for christmas.

[Raefco]

There are a lot of ways to go about building a BBQ pit, many of which I would not put my name on but would serve their purpose. The fire brick lining mentioned above would most likely be a standard duty fire brick that can be bought just about anywhere that sells wood burning stoves, a standard size would be 1-1/4" X 4-1/2" X 9" and they may run about 1.50-2.00 per brick, they would be layed on edge using a mortar called "Sairset refractory cement" this is an air set product.

 

As a do it your self project, I would suggest you start by building a box out of the dry stack landscape block fill to desired height with a dusty crushed stone and have a stainless steel box bent up to drop down in to the masonry box. You can have tabs welded on it to hold you grates and install a layer of the mentioned fire brick dry in the bottom,  maybe a lid from the same stainless, this method still would not be "cheap" but soild masonry would require a lot of work, would get expensive and depending on where you live, may require winterizing and regular maintenance.