Brick or steel?

[D.C]

Hi everyone, I have a quick question. I am thinking of building a pit in my backyard and I was wondering which would be better for the material, either a pit built out of brick or a pit built out of steel.

thanks for the input

[Andy M.]

If you're intent is to make a permanent fixture, I'd go with brick or field stone, or similar. They'll last forever.

[BreezyCooking]

I fully agree with brick.

My father built a huge brick barbecue back in 1957 that's still going strong today!!! Started with a large thick concrete slab & then built an "L" or chair-shaped barbecue out of brick atop it. Back portion of the "L" was a wide "chimney", while the front was open & had slots for two levels of cast-iron grill racks. Since the brick walls were several brick-widths thick, the "arms" of the "chair" were more than wide enough to put platters, tools, etc.

You could either build a charcoal fire on the lower grate, or build a big wood fire right on the concrete-slab bottom (great for marshmallow roasting). It was terrific for parties, & my childhood & teenage years are peppered with many happy memories of lots & lots of wonderful summer parties.

And as far as esthetics go, brick is much nicer & more pleasing to the eye than steel any day, in my opinion.

[D.C]

thanks for the advice, now another question. will any type of brick do, or is there a special type of brick that needs to be used

[BreezyCooking]

I don't know if there have been any improvements since 1957, but my dad used regular red bricks & mortar to build his barbecue. In this day & age though, you might want to investigate further.

[JohnL]

Hi D.C.,
I'm by no means an expert here, but I'm sure any non porous brick will work fine for the exterior features of your BBQ pit. But I think that the fire box of the pit should be constructed of fire brick.