My neighbor's DIY fire pit cracked in half after one winter in Ohio

I was thinking about building a fire pit this spring after seeing my neighbor's go up last summer. He used those concrete retaining wall blocks from Lowe's, the cheap $2 ones, and stacked them dry without any mortar or adhesive. Last week I noticed a huge crack running right through the middle of his pit. Then we got a freeze-thaw cycle and the whole front section just collapsed into a pile of broken blocks. He told me he spent about $80 on materials and maybe 2 hours on the build. Now I'm wondering if I should just buy a metal ring kit or go with a proper stone setup with mortar and a footer. Anyone here had a dry-stacked block pit survive more than one winter in a cold climate like central Ohio?

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wright.michael3mo ago

I mean, its a $80 fire pit that took 2 hours. Is it really that serious? If you get 2 or 3 summers out of it, you got your moneys worth.

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oliverbailey3mo ago

I read somewhere that the real issue with those cheap retaining wall blocks is they're not made to handle direct heat, they're just decorative landscaping blocks. The heat from the fire pit dries them out and makes them brittle, then the Ohio freeze-thaw cycles finish them off. It's not just about mortar or a footer, the material itself isn't right for the job. You'd be better off getting a metal ring kit from a big box store for around $50 and just setting it on a layer of gravel. That's what I did three years ago in northern Indiana and it's still sitting there fine, no cracks or collapsing. The neighbor's concrete block pit sounds like it was doomed from the start regardless of how he stacked it.

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