Introduction: Indoor Concrete Table Fireplace (2 Day Build)
This is the easiest 2-day build for an indoor concrete table Firepit... For making this project you will only need very few items that can be sourced easily in your local hardware shop or even you may already have everything in your house.
This project consists of a concrete firepit, decorative pebbles, and a sprit reservoir. This project is a must-have for extremely cold regions. Not everyone has a dedicated firepit for their house and this can be both a fully functional hand warmer and a nice decorative item for your house.
So without wasting any more time, let's get started in the build process.
Supplies
For re-making this project, you will need these basic items and materials.
- White Cement
- Normal cement
- Plastic Box (2 sizes)
- M-seal two part Epoxy clay
- Pebbels as per your decoration
- Sprit or methanol
- Self-adhesive rubber feet
- Sand Paper
- Old but sharp chisel set
- Masking tape
- Spray paint Gold
- Concrete Sealer (If available)
- Some random tools and items
With these items, you can easily make this indoor project and can have a decorative piece for your living room table in winter. You can always change every aspect of this project. This is my version. Post your versions down below.
Step 1: Take a Plastic Box As a Mould
Firstly take two boxes of your desired size and shape. I have chosen these two boxes as I wanted to keep my firepit small and simple. You can use your molds and other shapes if you want. just make sure to keep the wall thickness well above 1 cm at least.
also, make sure that you use mold release for any specific molds if needed. I have used these two plastic boxes which didn't require applying any mold release spray.
Step 2: Mix Concrete Mixture and Pour
The very first step of this project is to determine the size of the firepit and after taking an appropriate size container, you have to mix enough of the concrete, to fill the mold.
For the concrete mix, Take 3 parts of the white cement and then take 1 part of the normal cement, This is due to give the concrete some color and make it more attractive.
Now mix the cement with enough water and make sure to not make the mix much runny and not much tight. Thus that will be easy to remove all the trapped bubbles. I mixed the concrete in my newly purchased mixing bowl.
I then poured the concrete mix into the mold until the halfway.
shake the mold to release any of the trapped bubbles.
Now place the inner box to see how much concrete you will need for the second layer.
Step 3: Make the Second Layer and Make the Marble Effect
It's time to make the second layer and thus we are going to make this with just a mixture of white cement and nothing else. No coloring is needed for this second layer.
Make sure to make this layer just after pouring the first layer and don't let the previous layer cure.
Mix enough cement to cover the necessary portions and then the similarity in the previous step, pour the mix into the box.
vibrate the mold to release all the trapped bubbles and then simply mix the two layers with your hand and make a marble type texture. keep that subtle and not too much mixing is needed.
After that, reinsert the inner box and make sure to check if the concrete is leveled with a spirit level, otherwise, the firepit will have unequal sides as per the height.
Step 4: Let the Concrete Cure
Now let the concrete cure for at least 1 whole day and in the meantime, make sure to add sufficient water to rehydrate the mix, otherwise, the concrete will not cue properly.
If needed you can cure the casting for 2 days and thus reduce the fear of breaking in the meantime.
Step 5: Demolding Time
After the concrete has been cured well,its time to de-mold the piece from the box. as I used a brand new box for the job and the sides were extremely smooth, they didn't take much time to simply pop out. If you have any other type of mold, You can use mold release beforehand which will be helpful while removing the part.
While removing make sure not to damage any sides of the parts.
after the successful de-molding, submerge the whole thing underwater for half and hour and let that dry for some time, this will ensure to cure the whole thing is for the last time.
Step 6: Make Some Bevels and Chamfers
Now it's the interesting part of the process where I sanded the top layer and then added some chamfers and the inner beveled curve for better aesthetics. I did this by simply using an old but sharp chisel and a small piece of 220 grit sandpaper.
I later used a small exacto blade for the crisp corners and you can shape the piece however you want. its completely up to your preference.
Step 7: Mask the Areas for Painting
Now before painting, it's time to apply the masking tape, wherever your font wants to paint. This step is also fully optional and you can change how the paint will be applied. You can add some gravity, you can do mandala art, or you can just simply color the piece with your barer hand and a paint brush it's always up to you and your imagination.
As I have gone with a much more minimal look for this project. I simply masked the upper part and sprayed gold spray paint all over the bottom part.
Step 8: Colour the Parts
Its painting time, I sprayed the bottom part with a gold spray paint can and applied two light coats at an interval of 15 minutes.
You can use two or more colors if want, but I have gone with the simple one-tone finish.
This step is very self explanatory so I am not describing this much.
Step 9: Add a Protective Layer of Epoxy Clay
As we all know, concrete is very much pours even after curing for a lot of time and can soak water quickly, and as we are going to make this firepit out of concrete and will be using sprit or methanol as the fuel we didn't want to the concrete soak all the fuel and make either a fire-hazard or simply drain the fuel.
So to tackle this problem, firstly you can simply place a metal bowl in the middle and then pour the fuel into that, but finding a fitting piece of bowl thingy for a specific area is both frustrating and not much practical.
Instead, we will just make sure to cover the inner walls with a compound called M-seal, which is a two-part epoxy clay that is much easy to get and can be shaped in any shape, And after hardening this is both waterproof and heat resistant at some degree. And it's enough for our job.
So take some M-seal and then form an inner wall or layer using your fingers and some water. water is very helpful while sculpting m-seal.
make the surface as smooth as possible and let that cure for at least 2 hours and better 4 hours for the best result. (make sure to mic the two parts well enough if you don't want to have the mixture not set up.)
After this step, your firepit is done and some basic elements are left to add.
Step 10: Add Feets
Add some rubber feet and stick them under the concrete firepit using their their adhedive stickers. or use some glue to fix them in place.
Step 11: Add the Pebbels
Now simply add the Pebbles and your firepit is ready to be fueled up and fired for the first time.
I have used these white pebbles for the project as they nicely blend with the white cement abf the black inner walls. You can use any other rocks and pebbles if you want.
Step 12: Add the Fuel
Load the Firepit with enough amount of methanol or spirit, Make sure to do this in a safe area, and have proper fire extinguishing equipment to tackle any hazardous situations.
I have used my so-called cheap spirit mix from a local hardware shop to keep the overall cost low, and have got an overall 30 minutes of continuous burning time with this much fuel in one go.
Step 13: Light It Up
Now just use a small flame from a stove lighter (I will prefer these long-head flame candle lighters) and light up your very own indoor concrete firepit for the first time.
This project is a very useful decorative and working project for cold days and you can also gift these to your friends dnd family in the next winter season. In this modern era of electronic gadgets, its and nice addition to the old days when the whole family used to gather together at night in the cold around the fire to be warm and get a pleasant time.
So it's me, signing off for today's project,m and I will be back very soon with more awesome but easy projects. Until then keep creative and have a very nice day.
also, feel free to comment down your thoughts and any suggestions and your reactions on this project down below, I will be more than happy to read your lovely comment and help you as much as I can.
![Cold Challenge](https://content.instructables.com/FLM/T0V5/LCT3P8KC/FLMT0V5LCT3P8KC.jpg?auto=webp&crop=1240%2C600&frame=1&width=320)
First Prize in the
Cold Challenge
14 Comments
6 months ago
Minus all of the negative comments people seem to love leaving, I think this is an awesome project !!! I understood every step and will definitely add this to my list of must tries !!
7 months ago
Nice project 😊😊
7 months ago
Your concrete will collapse very quickly! Plain concrete begins to break down at temperatures of 250–300 °C during the decomposition of calcium hydroxide oxide. The combustion temperature of alcohol vapor is approximately 900 °C. The methanol that you use as fuel is poison! It is very dangerous for humans, especially for children! Also, epoxy resin cannot withstand high temperatures (min. -40 max. +120 °C). Tell me, what is the essence of your homemade fireplace, is it generally fireproof ?! Is there a danger to human life?
Reply 7 months ago
In this arrangement, the majority of the heat is going up, so the concrete won't do more than get warm near the end of the consumption of all of the alcohol. If 900 degrees of heat were going down, all the alcohol would flash to vapor and be burned up in seconds - and that doesn't happen. As far as the alcohol being poisonous - only if you drink it, NOT from burning it. It is a small enough heater that carbon monoxide poisoning in large room shouldn't be a problem - only in a small poorly ventilated confined space.
7 months ago
nice project, thanks for sharing. I see that most of the pictures are taken in a dark or dim light, which helps to make the flame more noticeable.
Please be very cautious when burning alcohols around others in daylight or well lighted rooms. Sometimes the flames are almost invisible; they burn hotter than typical flames, and have often caused severe burns. Many times (for example) people have stuck a hand directly in the (invisible) flame, to investigate if it is working, warm or actually lit...as humans we seem to often have the capacity to start examining something that is potentially dangerous or even fatal, before we've taken the time to fully grasp what it is we are dealing with and even the most obvious negative consequences. That and the alcohol burns at near invisible in bright light.
Reply 7 months ago
Good advice, but I've put my hands and fingers in flames many times for various purposes (momentarily), and besides scorched hair, have never had a burn. Alcohol flames aren't all that hot.
Reply 7 months ago
Yes of course, because if you lit the flame and/or knew it was there, then you were careful enough. But because alcohol flames are nearly invisible, and many people do not know that they can be very difficult to see; a second person arriving on the scene can dupe themselves right into a painful situation..."Hmmm, I thought he said he it was already burning...It don't look lit to me..." sticks hand in middle of flame, and foolishly waits until pain can be felt. Instead of the usual more common practice of waving fingers through through a flame that is known or atleast highly suspected to exist.
Question 7 months ago on Step 12
For fuel for the indoor table fireplace, you say methanol or spirit.
Do you mean mineral spirit? Also what is methanol and where is this sold?
Answer 7 months ago
You can get denatured ethanol at most hardware stores in the paint isle. It’s used for making and cleaning up shellac. Also, it says right on the can ‘fuel’. It’s used in alcohol burners and stoves. I’m not sure where you can buy methanol except in places that sell racing fuel.
Mineral spirits might be too smokey or stinky. Even lamp oil would smoke like crazy in this open burner. Lacquer thinner could be explosive. I’d stick with alcohol, it burns like sterno in a chafing dish.
7 months ago on Step 9
Just want to offer my spell check service
Step 9. First line
...concrete is very much porous....
Otherwise great write up!
7 months ago
being in the house, are there off gases to be concerned about indoors?
7 months ago
For how long would 1dl of 99% ethanol burn in this fireplace?
7 months ago on Step 13
Any concern with the concrete popping due to moisture/heat?
Reply 7 months ago
Umm. Technically concrete can develop cracks under extreme heat. But as it's an open firepit instead a closed one or with a concrete lid, there is minimum chance of helping that. At least that's not possible if it's in this small size. Now there may be some heat-resisting concretes or some kind of additives, but for an indoor firepit, I don't think there will be many issues.