Can I build my own gas fire pit or should a professional install it?
Here in Asheville, you're welcome to build the fire pit's shell yourself — the block base, the seat wall, the stone veneer — but connecting it to fuel is licensed work we handle. Most city homes sit on natural-gas mains, so we tap that line, set the burner, permit it with Buncombe County, and pressure-test before you ever strike it.
Two trades meeting on your patio
The stonework and the fire are genuinely different jobs, and it helps to think of them that way from the start. Laying up the enclosure — a tidy paver ring off a West Asheville deck or a stacked-stone rectangle beside a Montford porch — is hardscaping, and any capable homeowner or mason can take it on.
Running the gas is not. In North Carolina, extending or connecting a fuel line is reserved for a licensed gas contractor, and that half of the project is ours. We size and set the listed burner, build in the air venting and drainage the enclosure needs, run the permitted line, and tune the flame. Because we're headquartered a few minutes away at 629 Emma Rd, it's easy to have us walk your patio and mark where the line and burner land before a single block gets set.
Natural gas is a convenience, not a shortcut
Most of Asheville runs on natural-gas mains, so fueling a backyard fire pit is often a short tie-in rather than a new propane system — a genuine convenience the cabins up our mountain roads don't get. It doesn't change the rules one bit.
We still pull the permit with Buncombe County and meet the inspector, because a pit built without proper venting or a pressure-tested line is not something you want buried under a finished patio. And a fire pit earns its keep here: at 2,100-plus feet, nighttime temperatures drop into the 20s well into spring, so the season for sitting outside by the flame is long. Loop us in early — call (828) 545-0525 to plan the sequence.
Fireplace help in Asheville
We install and service fireplaces throughout Asheville and the rest of Buncombe County — we're headquartered right here.
Related questions
- Can I build a fire pit enclosure out of pavers or retaining wall blocks?
- What is a fire pit burner kit and can I drop one into my own enclosure?
- Can my landscaper build the fire pit enclosure while a licensed gas company installs the burner and gas line?
- Can I run my own gas line to a fire pit?
- Do I need a permit to install a gas fire pit?