We usually have a minimum of 5 feet from the edge of the fire pit. 2 feet of space and 3 feet for a club style chair. An area of about 15x15 is fine, especially if the outside diameter of the firepit is five ft. When building in seating it is a good idea to leave about 2'-0" feet min to 2'-6" max of space between pit and bench. This is so that you can put your feet up on the edge of the pit and also leave enough room to walk around the pit. We usually make the pit height 18 to 20 inches high. From outdoor fire places rings From outdoor fire places rings

So your member page says you live in the US, so your zone 8 might be Texas, might be Washington State. Either way you don't really need the crush gravel base, but a little sand is probably a good thing. I don't feel that having landscape fabric underneath is a good idea, but that might just be because I hate the stuff. It might not hurt. Other than that, I think the comments I made on the concurrent thread about laying a flagstone pathway would also apply to you. In addition, however, I would keep the gaps between your stones pretty narrow as placing chair legs can be hazardous with large gaps. You want solid footing with the firepit. Nice quip on the floating deck thread about having flammables handy for the fire if you made a wood deck ... on that note, does landscape fabric burn?

on_greenthumb, your firepit area is lovely. I really like that. I love the idea of a rubble patio, and perhaps can use that as the center of ours (which we hope to put in late summer or early fall). However it has to be flat (unlike my walkway of broken concrete: each source comes with a different thickness) for my Mom and my pal (who is blind) to navigate more easily than the front walk (which I will need to get laid flatter, eventually). I think if you plan on using really heavily weighted items like a stone fireplace, grill island, sink etc. you need at least some of the area poured. We plan on having a "primitive" kitchen (mostly cement items) around the edges, so we need stability: we also need a footer for a knee wall around the edge to keep any flooding waters off the patio and kitchen area. That said, I really want to keep things as do-it-yourself as possible. I have fun doing projects like hosenemesis patio area - and enjoy the feeling of a job well accomplished! on_greenthumb's area would be a nice "landing" for a hammock. Someone gave me a hammock last fall, and once we get some backyard happening, I'd like to find a place for DH to snuggle down into the garden and relax...

I'm not home so it's going to be a couple of weeks, but I don't need help on the aesthetics--I can figure out a way to make it attractive once I find an affordable way to construct it. I'm asking for construction advice--will 3 or 4 inches of packed crusher run rock hold up long term over a concrete pad with a frame built around it to hold it in (will just receive light foot traffic with a combo of bench/Adirondack chair seating), or will the gravel move too much? Is there a better and more affordable way to completely cover an old broken concrete pad so I can put a firepit and seating on it. I'd build a deck over it but then I can't burn on it. Laying natural stone or concrete pavers on the pad is out of my budget (the pad is broken and not level) and so is ripping out and removing the concrete--the estimates are running around $5K for that. Would putting a gravel grid over the top of the concrete make the crusher run more secure? I have no idea how pricey the gravel grid is, and if it's heat or fire proof. Also remember this is a farm. It's very pretty, but sturdy rustic construction with lush landscaping works really well on my property.