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I want to put a firepit on a wood deck - The manual says no. Just a precaution?
By admin | May 31, 2008
KristenCO asked:
We have one of those metal fire pits that are off the ground, and fully enclosed by a screen. The instructions way “Do NOT use on a wood deck or any combustible surface.” Problem is, a wood deck is the only place we have to put this. Is this just a precaution they are required to put in the instructions? Do any of you have an outdoor fireplace on a wood deck? If I got one of those fireproof “grill mats”, would that suffice?
5 Responses to “I want to put a firepit on a wood deck - The manual says no. Just a precaution?”
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:26 pm
I have a “chiminea” You know, one of those clay chimney things. It is on my wood deck. I have never had a problem with it. It is about 8 ” off the floor on a metal stand. I have had some pretty good sized fires in there too. I do check the deck every know and then to see how hot it was getting. Never did.
They have to protect them selves from liability. Try a fire in it, small first and feel the deck under the stand. See how hot it gets.
The colder the weather, the safer it should be.
Good luck!
June 4th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
They do put the warning on there to protect themselves against a lawsuit but if you place it away from any railings and insure it is covered when in use then I have had no problem with mine. I did however use a grid of stepping stones underneath to insure that any hot legs did not do damage to the deck.
June 4th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
This isn’t a teriffic idea, a grill mat is better than nothing but is not guranteee that you won’t have a fire.
June 7th, 2008 at 4:19 am
We have a chiminea on our wood deck also, but one thing you should consider is putting some terra cotta tiles (the thick patio/walkway type tiles available at Lowes, etc.) under the firepit to save your deck in case it gets hot. You just never know.
We have 4 under our chiminea and sparks do fly out of that thing on occasion. It’s good to know that an ember won’t set our deck on fire.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Put down a sheet of dura rock