Long Island Fire Pits & Outdoor Fireplaces

Even during chilly weather, a warm fire makes it comfortable and cozy to entertain outdoors. Whether you’re seeking a sleek, custom-built outdoor gas fireplace or a beautiful yet old-fashioned wood-burning fire pit, the team of artisan masons at Above All Masonry can help bring your vision to life.

Outdoor fireplace or fire pit: which one fits your yard?

Both give you heat. They do different things with it.

A fire pit puts the fire in the middle and people around it, so it seats more, keeps sight lines open across the yard, and suits a patio you want to feel social. A fireplace puts the fire against a wall with a chimney above it, which means the heat comes at you from one direction, the smoke goes up and away, and the structure itself becomes the backdrop of the space. On a windy or exposed lot, a fireplace is usually the more comfortable of the two, because the firebox shelters the fire instead of letting the breeze push smoke around the seating.

Size matters in the decision too. A fireplace is a real masonry structure with a footing, so it needs the room and the budget of a structure. A fire pit can be as simple as a stone ring on a prepared base or as finished as a linear gas feature framed by seat walls, like the one we built in Bohemia.

Should you burn wood or gas?

This is the question we get asked most, and the honest answer is that it depends on how you’ll actually use it.

Wood gives you the crackle, the smell and more heat. It also means hauling and storing wood, cleaning out ash, and a longer shutdown when the evening ends. Smoke drifts, so placement matters more, and some towns have their own rules about open burning that are worth checking before you build.

Gas lights with a switch or a key valve and goes out the same way, which is usually what wins people over. It runs cleaner, it needs almost no cleanup, and you can use it for twenty minutes without committing your whole evening to it. The trade-off is less heat than a wood fire and a gas line to plan for. Running new gas piping is licensed, permitted work, so it belongs in the design from the start rather than as an afterthought. Propane is the alternative where a natural gas line isn’t practical, and a propane cylinder needs a vented enclosure, never a sealed cabinet, because propane is heavier than air and will pool.

Plenty of Long Island homeowners land on both: a gas fire feature on the patio for weeknights and a wood burning fire pit further out in the yard for the nights that deserve it.

What does a masonry fire feature need on Long Island?

Freeze and thaw is what separates a fire feature that still looks right in ten years from one that starts shifting after three winters. Water gets into a poorly built structure, freezes, expands, and pushes stone and mortar apart. That means a compacted base and footings set to the frost depth required where you are, mortar and materials rated for exterior use, a proper cap so water sheds instead of soaking in, and firebrick and refractory mortar where the fire actually sits. Ordinary brick and standard mortar will spall and crack under that heat.

Salt air on the South Shore and near the bays is hardest on metal, and it works on mortar joints too, so grates, burners, doors and caps in exposed locations are worth specifying with that in mind.

Clearances are not a style choice. A wood burning fire feature needs open sky above it, and the manufacturer’s instructions plus your local code set the distances to the house, overhangs, fences, trees and anything else combustible. Permit requirements vary between towns in Nassau and Suffolk, and they vary again for gas piping, so we confirm what your town wants before work starts rather than after.

Where should a fire feature go?

Start with the wind. Stand in the yard on a breezy evening and watch which way it moves, then place the fire so smoke drifts away from the house, the dining area and your neighbor’s windows rather than into them.

Then think about the whole patio. A fire feature works best when the seating is built around it rather than dragged over to it, which is why seat walls so often go in at the same time. A wall with comfortable coping seats guests, saves the space that bulky furniture would eat, and can hide storage. Keep the seating back far enough that nobody is cooking their knees, and follow the clearance the kit or insert calls for.

Sight lines matter as well. A fireplace is tall enough to block a view, which is useful when the view is a neighbor’s driveway and a problem when it’s your pool. If you’re planning a pool, a patio or an outdoor kitchen in the same project, the fire feature should be placed with all of it on one plan, not added later.

What materials work for outdoor fireplaces and fire pits?

Most of what you see is a veneer over a structural core. Stacked stone reads natural and hides its joints well. Brick suits a traditional house and a Federal or Colonial front. Cut stone and large format veneer panels give you the cleaner lines that go with a modern build, and smooth stone caps and hearths finish either direction.

We work with Unilock, Techo-Bloc and Cambridge Pavingstones, all of which make fireplace and fire pit units designed to match their paver lines, so the fire feature and the patio read as one job. Fully custom masonry gives you any size and shape you want, including a firebox scaled to the room it’s warming rather than to a kit.

Inside the firebox, firebrick and refractory mortar do the work. Burners, pans, glass and lava rock in a gas feature should be components listed for outdoor use and for your fuel. Never substitute river rock or ordinary landscape stone, which can trap water and burst when it heats. Fire glass in a linear burner gives an even ribbon of flame, and the bed still reads as color when the fire is off, like the blue glass in our West Islip project.

Are fire pit tables and portable fire pits worth it?

They have a place. A fire pit table or a portable propane unit costs less than a built-in feature, needs no excavation, and moves or comes with you. If you rent, or you’re not sure yet where the patio is going, that flexibility is worth a lot.

What you give up is permanence and scale. A table sits on top of your patio rather than being part of it, it doesn’t hold or throw heat the way a masonry fireplace does, and it isn’t an improvement to the property the way a built-in structure is. We install fire pit rings, fire pit tables and propane fire pits as well as full masonry builds, so it’s worth telling us how you plan to use the space before you decide which one you’re buying.

What does the process look like?

It starts with a site visit across Suffolk or Nassau County, where we look at the yard, the wind, the access for equipment and where utilities run. Before any digging we file the markout request, so buried gas, electric, water and cable lines get located and flagged. You get a 3D design so you can see the feature in your space before anything is built, and material selection happens with samples in hand rather than off a screen.

Construction means excavation and base preparation, footings, the structural core, the firebox, then veneer, cap and hearth. Gas work is coordinated with the licensed trades and the town’s inspection. Stephen Bono, the owner, is on every job site, and Above All Masonry Design is family-owned. We also offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

Most fire features are built as part of a larger patio or outdoor living project, so timing depends on the scope of the whole job rather than the fire feature alone. We’ll give you a realistic schedule for your project when we quote it.

Fire feature FAQs for Nassau and Suffolk County homeowners

Do I need a permit for an outdoor fireplace or fire pit on Long Island?

Often, yes, and it depends on your town. Requirements differ across Nassau and Suffolk for masonry structures, for open burning and for gas piping, and a structure near a property line can raise setback questions too. We confirm what your town requires as part of the design rather than leaving it to you to find out.

How close to the house can a fire feature be?

Gas features can often sit closer than people expect and wood needs more room. The real answer comes from the manufacturer’s instructions for the unit and your local code, and both account for overhangs, siding, soffits and anything overhead. A wood burning feature needs open sky above it, so it never goes under a pergola or a covered porch roof unless that structure and its chimney were built to carry the flue above the roof, as on our covered Port Jefferson fireplace.

Carbon monoxide deserves its own line here, because anything that burns produces it. A gas fire feature only goes under a covered structure when the manufacturer’s instructions allow it and the space stays open, and a portable propane fire pit never goes in a garage, a screen room or any other enclosed space.

Can I use an outdoor fireplace in the winter?

Yes, and that’s when the good ones earn their keep. A masonry fireplace holds and radiates heat, which extends your patio season well past the point where the furniture usually goes away. Gas features are the easier winter choice because there’s no wood to keep dry and no ash to clean out in the cold. Keep the area clear of snow, and if the feature has a water element nearby, that part gets winterized.

How much maintenance does a fire feature need?

Not much, but not none. Wood burning features need the firebox cleaned out and the chimney and flue checked before each season. Gas features want the burner and ports kept clear and the glass or lava rock refreshed as it breaks down. On both, look at the cap, the mortar joints and the hearth each spring for anything that moved over the winter, since catching a small crack is a lot cheaper than rebuilding a corner. Ash holds live embers for days, so it goes in a metal container with a lid, set away from the house, the deck and anything that burns.

Can you build a fire feature into an existing patio?

Usually. It means cutting into the patio for the footing and then matching the surrounding surface back in, which is easier with pavers than with poured concrete or a mortar set stone patio. If your pavers are from a current Unilock, Techo-Bloc or Cambridge line, matching them is straightforward. If the patio is older, we’ll talk about whether a border or a deliberate contrast looks better than a near match that doesn’t quite land.

Does a fire feature add value to the property?

A built-in masonry fire feature is a permanent improvement and it’s one of the first things buyers notice about a backyard, which is a different thing from a guaranteed return on the dollar. Treat it as something you’ll use for years, not as an investment with a number attached.

Ready to plan a fire feature?

Tell us how you want to use the space and we’ll design around that. See our recent fire pit and fireplace projects for what we’ve built across Long Island, look at our paver patio work if the patio is part of the project, or contact us to set up a design consultation. If the fire is going indoors instead, see our interior fireplaces page.