So when Superior Walls started many years ago anyone could install the walls. Today that is not true. Only the franchisee can install the walls. I purchase my walls from Great Lakes Superior Walls out of Grand Rapids Michigan. The have a number of crews and when completed the crew certifies the install. They also have a site guy name Lon that inspects all the installs when completed and he also comes and makes sure all the blocking is installed on the walls as bracing. Hope this helps it's a great product that I have personally used to build 200 to 300 homes since 2000. Jim Moline

Its 18 inches on the outside from floor to top but thats only because there will be a flagstone floor that comes up about 3 inches. In the inside its 14 inches from the floor because there are 4 inch fire bricks on the bottom. There is a wood rack that sits on top of that, which brings the wood "off" the floor which is why most people have trouble because they try and stack the wood on the floor. This allow air to get "underneath" and around the sides of the wood. The wood rack elevates the wood another 3-4 inches, giving it a final height to the top of only about 10-12 inches. The wood rack was also "very hard" to find....and this is probably why most people are not using them. There are 4 mortar breather holes around the sides and there are 3 "drainage" aluminum tubes for water drainage and cleaning as well as air. I paid a ransom fee for the mortar. I contacted the vendor who just happen to tell me a landscaper bought a pallet of it because his mason was having the same problem. I called the guy and he started laughing at me. I said I'm looking for refactory mortar. His answer was "you and everybody else". Anyway, he charged me $80 for a 50lb bag. I forget to put this in my expenses--I guess I'm trying to forget. If he had been built locally they would have used standard mortar. Good for a few years until it all cracks off. Anyway, having talked with every landscaper and brick and mortar store and distributor here in Austin, I was able to get someone to carry it. Didn't help me, but the next person will be helped. Custom Stone Supply here in Round Rock now carries it and its closer to the $40-$50 price it normally goes for. She called me a few weeks ago after I was done to ask me if I wanted to buy it. They carry the indoor premix refactory mortar in a couple places but this is water soluable outside....so after a few rains, everything will come crumbling down.

Hi , We are doing an entire backyard remodel and so we put in a gas line for a fire pit. It's a 4' circular fire pit raised a foot or so. The side is covered by slate veneer and the top round of the fire pit we are thinking of pre-cast concrete slabs to form a circular wall cap. This goes with the pool coping and the wall caps we have on our retaining walls around the yard. Question is: Can pre-cast concrete handle a fire? Will it crack. Do I have to go with like a natural stone. Maintenance wise do I have to seal concrete and stone or just leave it. This is our first fire pit ever - so I think the fore is contained inside the ring but the heat transfer that happens to the fire pit wall cap - how mad is it and is concrete a fine material to use for such a situation. Thanks

Here's what I've found: I know this has little to do with the fact that you're asking about portable or fixed, but I was concerned about wood-burning or propane unit: 1 - The ones with the glass rocks that use propane (whether portable or not) aren't as warm as a roaring fire in a wood-burning unit. 2 - Glass rocks are prettier than the wood, but there's something so cool about a roaring fire as opposed to a pretty one 3 - Guys love throwing wood and sticks into an open flame. 4 - Flame from wood-burning keeps the bugs away, and it makes for a cozy atmosphere at night. It even spreads a good amount of warmth - Fun times with drinks, and marshmallows (Need to buy extra long sticks on Amazon- then toss in fire afterward). You cannot roast marshmallows on the unit with glass rocks without ruining the rocks. 5 - You will come into your house smelling like fire when you sit at a wood-burning unit. 6 - If you use something portable, you can move it to adjust the party size layout. What did you choose?