Outdoor fireplaces provide you with the opportunity to spend your time in your patio grilling your favorite dish. Even in cold weather. It is an excellent place where you can hang out with your family and friends watching the flickering flames and perhaps contemplating what Prometheus suffered for his crime of stealing fire in Mount Olympus and giving it to man. Of course, the design of your outdoor fireplace will greatly influence your satisfaction and the time you spend around it.

The design of your outdoor fireplace will give you a general idea of how it will look like when constructed. It does not go into specifics but it is necessary to provide a broad framework within which to map out the nuts-and-bolts of the actual construction and to prepare the blueprints and plans. It may be a rough sketch of the structure and its possible general location.

The starting point of a good design is a study of the main house and its surrounding structures. The size of the house and the yard are major considerations. You do not want a fireplace that is almost as big as your house, or one that occupies over half the space in your yard. Also, the architectural design of the house and the materials it is made of influence that of the fireplace. If it is highlighted with green slate, for instance, then choose a fireplace design that will allow the use of the same type of stone.

The layout of the house and the other buildings within the property will affect the location of the outdoor fireplace. It should not block the view from the house. Neither should it obscure its interesting features. Also, the fireplace should not be placed upwind of the house. This is especially applicable if you opt for the wood-fueled type. Certain localities also have laws regulating the distance of your fireplace from your house and setbacks from slopes. Stay within these laws as they are there for your own safety.

As for wood-burning fireplaces, there are ordinances requiring them to have a chimney that is at least two feet taller than the nearest structure. Be sure to incorporate this in your designs. Also, a smoke shelf and a properly-sized flue must be designed into your fireplace to encourage smoke to escape at the top of the chimney instead of being pushed toward the hearth by a strong downdraft. If you don’t like stocking up on firewood and clearing the hearth of ashes now and then, you can opt for a gas-fired fireplace. This will free you from the chimney but your design will have to include venting options for the gas.

The space around the fireplace should also be considered when drafting your design. Without necessarily providing exact area measurements, you can indicate that you want the space to accommodate, say, 15 persons at a single time, along with the needed furniture where you can sit, and the plants that liven up the place.

Another consideration you will want to keep in mind is cost. Some materials are more expensive than others, and while they do differ in appearance, they do not differ much in terms of durability and strength. If your budget will not allow granite, for example, you can always go for slate.

You will need to exercise care and caution in describing the design you want for your outdoor fireplace because this involves a permanent structure within your property. The resulting work will greatly affect the image and appearance of the whole property. And it will certainly affect the quality of your time spent warming yourself in front of it, and grilling pork chops and fish fillets in it.