If you’re preparing to entertain some friends on your new deck, you might be wondering whether it’s safe to bring over the chiminea. It would be perfect for having people over, but the wooden deck is combustible, so you’re not sure if it’s safe.
So, can you put a chiminea on a deck? It’s not safe to put a chiminea on a wooden deck according to the manufacturers. It’s advisable to keep your chiminea at least 8 feet from any combustible materials, such as a wooden deck or house that may be a fire hazard when in contact with spark or embers thrown from the chiminea.
- According to the Blue Rooster chiminea manufacturers manual, it’s best to keep your chiminea on stove mats, hearth boards, or patio blocks to catch embers coming from the chiminea. Keeping it 8ft away from any combustible materials when hot is also recommended in the manual.
- The chances are, your deck will be connected to your house. Both of these are likely to be made from or contain combustible materials, and thus it’s not a good idea to put an unprotected chiminea directly onto a connected deck.
- Further, if there are gaps in the boards of the deck, there’s a risk of embers dropping through and igniting any other combustible materials
- The majority of the heat from a chiminea will be radiating upwards and outwards, with only a small fraction aimed down at the ground. Unless the chiminea is exceptionally hot, it’s unlikely to cause damage to a wooden deck when there is a fireproof surface separating it from the bare wood. The main focus then needs to be a protected area that covers the 8ft spark zone around the chiminea.
With these factors considered, it would be reasonable to conclude that you can put a chiminea on your deck if you follow the basic safety principles of keeping it separated from the wood with a fireproof layer that extends wide enough to catch any dangerous sparks or embers.
How Do I Protect My Patio from A Chiminea?
To protect your patio from a chiminea, always keep the fire in your chiminea the appropriate size. Rest the chiminea on a fireproof surface, and never next to or directly on top of any combustible materials like a wooden deck of the side of your house. Finally, use a spark arrester to prevent embers from flying out of the top.
Patios can be made of many different materials. A wooden deck patio will always be at risk of damage from a chiminea if it’s not protected by a fireproof mat or another form of protective covering around the chiminea.
Patios typically differ from decks in that they are level with the ground, and not usually connected to a house. This makes them more ideal for outdoor fire pits and chimineas, and a safer alternative than a wooden deck. However, there are still safety precautions to take into consideration when bringing fire and patios together.
A brick or concrete patio is naturally non-combustible, but the material might still be affected by heat. Some materials will crack or become discolored from the heat from a chiminea so this must be taken into account if you are looking to put a chiminea on your patio. Fire safety experts advise keeping the fire in a chiminea small to be safe.
Chimineas are inherently safer than the alternative of a fire pit, since they direct smoke and embers upwards, rather than allowing them to fly out in all directions, however, it’s still important to take precautions to protect your patio. Chiminea manufacturers also offer deck protectors and stands that would serve this purpose. I recommend checking out cast iron Chimineas on Amazon by clicking here.
Here is a video that can help you to find that perfect Chiminea spot
Where Should I Put My Chiminea?
Your chiminea should be placed in a location with enough space for people to pass around it safely. It should be placed on a stand or an otherwise fireproof platform, and ideally in a place where it can be monitored from inside the house. Do not place it under any overhanging roof or branches!
Lisa Hallet, an expert in architecture and landscape design, add that chimineas should be placed so that the wind currents carry the smoke away from the house, and that for it to work properly it should be set up as vertical as possible
Chimineas are one of the safest ways to provide outdoor heating for your garden or patio, but a fire still has its hazards, and the design of both the chiminea and the outdoor space needs to be taken into account when deciding where to put it.
Things to consider:
- Does the chiminea have a stand? If it’s going to be directly on the ground, place a fireproof protective material between it and the surface.
- Are there overhanging trees or roofings? Make sure the area above the chiminea is open, to allow smoke and sparks a safe distance to escape
- Will it need to be moved? Chimineas will stay hot for a long time after the fire goes out, so it’s best to leave them to cool overnight before moving them.
- Are there combustible materials nearby? Decks themselves can be combustible and if there are gaps for sparks to fall beneath the chiminea, combustible material under the deck needs to be taken into account also.
Table Showing where homeowners were placing their Chimineas:
| Where do typical homeowners place their chimineas | Percentage of total responses |
|---|---|
| Owners placed their chimineas on a wood deck. I was surprised to learn how many owners were willing to deal with the risk of fire | 44% |
| Some homeowners added concrete pavers to their yard for their chiminea | 33% |
| Another way to add a chiminea is to add bricks forming a square on the lawn. This is better than killing the grass. | 23% |
Can You Put a Chiminea on Grass?
You can put your chiminea on grass, in many cases. This will depend on the condition of the grass –If it’s not too dry, as long as the stand is stable and won’t sink into the soft earth, it should be fine. If the chiminea is too close to the grass, however, it may scorch it.
ConsumerReports.org recommends focusing on stable footing, especially for a heavier, clay chiminea, and being careful on the grass with any dry leaves on it that can catch fire. As the grass underneath can become burned from the heat, keeping the fire small and the chiminea raised to help protect it.
Perhaps you have a lawn with some garden furniture and you’re looking for a way to bring some outdoor heating without using a large fire pit or spending too much on creating a specialized platform for your heaters. In that case, it might be tempting to put a chiminea directly on the grass.
If you’re very worried about damaging the grass, perhaps find somewhere else to sit your chiminea. There’s no way to guarantee 100% that your grass will be protected, so take caution.
Four Suggestions to Set your Chiminea on or Around Grass
- Place some gravel under the chiminea. This will damage the grass beneath, but it will help give the chiminea a more permanent platform, preventing it from falling over and damaging the grass around it.
- Use a tall wire stand. Keeping the chiminea high off the ground can help protect the grass beneath from the heat radiating from the base of the chiminea.
- Use a spark guard! Preventing sparks and embers from escaping the top of the chiminea will help protect the grass from damage.
- Make sure your grass isn’t dry or covered in dry leaves. Small embers won’t do much harm to a lawn that’s well hydrated, but can start a fire in exceptionally dry conditions.
Best Fire Pit Pad
Wherever you place your chiminea or fire pit, it’s a good idea to have a protective mat around it. As mentioned, the manufacturers of chimineas recommend 8ft of protection between the fire and any combustible materials, but with fire pit pads in general, they’re much smaller than this.
With a safety mat or pad for your fire pit, you’re going to want something that reflects the heat radiated from the fire pit to protect the surface underneath, but you’re also going to want something that catches embers and prevents direct scorching from rogue sparks. I recommend checking out the Ember Mat, to fire proof your deck or lawn, on Amazon by clicking here.
For these reasons, SPUEXCMAT’s 59” fireproof mat is a great choice. It’s large enough and thick enough to protect decking, patio, grass, and stone, and is popular for its large size. Customers recommend it for protecting wooden decks and its ease of setup and cleaning.
The light color of the mat brings to your attention just how much burning material is ejected from your fire pit, and this helps to keep in mind the inherent dangers of burning wood. However, this color is also one of the major complaints, since it may clash with some of the natural colors of the surrounding patio or lawn.
Can You Put a Propane Fire Pit on a Wood Deck?
You shouldn’t put your propane fire pit directly on a wood deck. While there isn’t any chance of embers jumping out of a propane pit, the heat from the bottom can still be high enough to discolor or even burn a wood deck, so it’s important to have a non-combustible surface between them.
A propane fire pit is a great option for eliminating sparks and embers from the equation when you’re looking for outdoor heating. They can be a safer alternative to wood-burning heaters and more versatile and controllable. Still, they produce a lot of heat, so what do you need to consider when using a propane fire put on a wood deck?
Outland Living propane fire pit manufacturers recommend that the bottom of the fire pit only contacts non-combustible surfaces, and there are many easy ways to do this. Here are three-pointers to stay safe with propane fire pits.
- Sitting the fire pit in a metal stand or down on a stone surface will protect the wood deck.
- A fire pit pad can also be used and with propane, this only needs to be as big as the base of the fire pit.
- While propane is safer than wood because it doesn’t create sparks and embers, do remember that the space above the fire pit is still at risk from extreme heat. Trees, buntings, party tents, or other coverings need to be avoided when using propane fire pits, just as with regular wood fire pits or chimineas.
Will Fire Pits Ruin Pavers?
Fire pits generally won’t ruin pavers. It’s unlikely that the heat emanating downwards from a fire pit will be enough to crack a paver if the pit is on a stand. Discoloration may occur, but this is also unlikely, and can easily be mitigated with the use of a heat mat under the fire pit.
Concrete pavers are made from non-combustible material but if you’ve got a patio that uses pavers and you’re worried about them becoming discolored or cracked by the heat of a fire pit, you’ll be looking for a way to avoid this.
Checking the forums is a good way to get user opinions on this, and the consensus seems to be that concrete pavers do not need protection from a fire pit. Fire puts and chimineas both send most of their heat upwards, and the ground underneath may get warm enough to kill grass but is unlikely to reach temperatures great enough to crack or discolor pavers.
Another point to consider is that if you are trying hard to protect your pavers with mats or cinder blocks, you may end up with the opposite effect – the area under the fire pit will remain clean as the rest of the patio begins to weather and become dirty!
Conclusion
So you shouldn’t put a chiminea or fire pit directly onto the bare wood of a wooden deck, but it’s quite a straightforward process to protect the wood from the heat by laying a protective mat or placing a stone underneath.
More consideration should be placed on making sure embers and sparks can’t ignite combustible materials around the deck, and that the chiminea of the fire pit isn’t covered by branches or overhanging roofing.
