I built one a month ago. I had a gas line stubbed up through the concrete decking of my pool when they poured it. 1.I got a 90 degree shut off valv and connected it to a flexible gas line (pick one up in the appliance section at local Home builder store). 2.Bought a fire ring from an outdoor furniture\BBQ store and connected the fir ring to the flexible gas line.(but you can buy the kit here. http://www.firelogs.com/HearthProductsFireRing.htm) scroll down the page. 3. I bought stackable blocks (like you would use to build a small garden retaining wall) and configured them into a circle (abot 15 blocks per layer, 3 layers high). no need to morter, just stack 'em. 4. Bought 10 bags of lava rock in the BBQ section of home builder store and poured them in under and then over the fire ring. Now I just turn on the gas valve and light it. Works great. If you want pictures, let me know by email. rgs@thesissons.com

We did consider a blue to go with our pool tile and might have gone that route if the granite had any blue or the right greys in it. I found the fire pit online but had to order through a dealer. The guy there showed us the stock glass, but also larger pieces. Some are larger crumbles and others look like small ice cubes or gems. I think he called one of them liquid ice -- the name because of how it reflects the light and looks melted from the fire. He said some people us one color for most of the glass and then scatter some of a different color on top or use some clear or colored larger pieces to catch the light on top. If I recall correctly, our pit has a dish that is about 24 inches wide and not too deep. The glass just covers the burner and I think we needed 80 lbs of glass. The glass runs several dollars a pound, so it is easy enough to change out, but it may not be cheap -- especially if your contractor is building a large brick pit. I assume he will insert a pan for the burner and make it more shallow? You may want to ask about that.

It might be easier to run it in the roof. We did that and then the gas line comes down one of the support posts which was then wrapped in stone and siding. (Assumes the porch is covered and withing your roof structure). You can see the gas line here coming down the post farthest from the camera. This post was wrapped, that's just the structural post there. We had power, RJ45, cat6, and a smurf tube stubbed in the ceiling to mount a TV.

I'm not an authority on this but imagine it is mostly likely bad design. Many stones and other hard materials (glass, ceramics, etc) commonly crack if heated unevenly which, of course, is the only way a stone around a fire pit is going to heat. A one-piece stone surround sounds like a likely candidate for this to happen. The fabricator may have much experience creating these and appreciating their beauty, but very little experience using them. In the end, a complaint will always be over money so even if it's his/her fault, they'll still come up with excuses why it isn't ... especially if they've been doing it for a while as it represents an even greater liability. I'd be looking for a way out using another scheme that is not a one-piece object ... not a replacement of the same. And, having the heat on one's fire pit a bit higher than normal should still be well within the design specs, as that's something any average user might do at any time. I had a nice pizza stone which I used regularly on a closed barbecue pit and in the oven with never any trouble. One night, I decided to use it on top of the stove burner (electric) for some reason, which in retrospect was hair-brained, thinking that if I heated it slowly enough, it would be fine (and if it wasn't, that I would learn something!) About 20-something minutes later there was a gun shot and a crash that came from the kitchen. The stone had exploded into two and one part had landed on the vinyl floor and immediately began melting it.. I had no time to figure out a good way to pick it up on such short notice and ended up trying to push it against my sock with a hot pad so I could get hold of it. But those socks were thin so there ended up being a lot of dancing before I could get it off the floor. Now, I'm never going to do that again. And I also won't make a one-piece top for a fire pit. Also, if you're looking for advice with some authority to it, contact a granite manufacturer/producer and see if you can talk to an expert about the situation. And I don't mean a fabricator. Call a representative of a quarry. There should be someone on staff who knows granite's technical properties and abilities, as a material.