Fire pit installation in Foxborough, MA

A fire pit is the thing you end up using most, and the thing most often dropped onto a patio that wasn't planned for it. Building it into the layout from the start is what makes it feel like part of the yard instead of an afterthought.

In Foxborough that usually means flat lots and heavy spring water, so the slope that sends water away is planned before any stone goes down. Without that, spring thaw sits on the patio instead of running off it.

On wet Foxborough lots the pit goes on ground that drains, which sometimes decides the corner before the design does. On the wetter Foxborough lots we also set the pit on a raised compacted base so spring water drains under it rather than sitting in the ring. If the grade will not let us raise it, we dig a dry well beside the ring and run the base stone out to it so the pit never sits in a puddle.

The pad under a fire pit in Foxborough gets the same treatment as the patio: dug, compacted and set on a base that does not heave, so the stone ring stays level rather than tipping after the first hard winter.

• Built into the patio layout, with seating sized to the circle
• Matching stone, caps or a steel insert for a clean bowl
• Clearance and grade around the pit planned for drainage
• Seat walls, steps and lighting detailed alongside it
• Worked to Foxborough's grade and drainage, not a cookie-cutter layout