Propane tank fire pit-now fire pit hangout area...with sand?

[Swamp_Yankee]

Finally finished the propane tank fire pit over MDW (see the rest of the build here: 

 

We decided that the back porch/patio was too close to the house-not for safety reasons, but because of smoke, etc...  So I needed another place to put it.  Years ago there was an above ground pool in this spot-now it just collects water, breeds skeeters, and gives the dog a place to get muddy:

Put some geotextile down that I had planned on using to stabilize a soft spot in our lane but ended up just putting in more drainage instead:

QP left over from road work:

Got a decent base down along with a drain to carry away any water that bubbles up from behind the retaining wall:

The idea is to have the fire pit in the center set on top of some large stones, surrounded by Adirondack chairs.  I'm going to build a little covered firewood storage against the wall, and eventually I'll mount some outdoor speakers on it.  I get good WiFi coverage outside so I have an Alexa in the toolshed for music patched into a Pioneer power amplifier/Infinity speakers right now.  The question is what to top the QP base with.  The geotextile will keep whatever I put there from sinking into the mud, so I was just going to go with 3/8" clean washed stone, but the wife has her heart set on sand.  If you've ever been to the "Boat Bar" outside at the Draught House in Washington you'll know why.  I just feel like it will be a PITA to keep clean, plus sand is expensive.  I can get 3/8" clean stone from the quarry on the next mountain over for $23.00 a ton delivered but they only do crushed stone AFAIK.  Any suggestions?

 

Edited June 10, 2019 by Swamp_Yankee

[3Blade]

 I have a customer who wants to do something similar to what you want. I'd stay away from sand. I would dry lay a border of Belgian Block and go with a clean 3/8 stone or a 1" river rock like this....

[LPJR]

Nice project Yankee, looks great!

I like Mike's idea above as well! 

Edited June 10, 2019 by LPJR

[Swamp_Yankee]

9 hours ago, 3Blade said:

 I have a customer who wants to do something similar to what you want. I'd stay away from sand. I would dry lay a border of Belgian Block and go with a clean 3/8 stone or a 1" river rock like this....

I just called Harmony Sand and Gravel and got a price on 3/8" Delaware River Stone which wasn't bad.  Looks nice and smooth/should be easy on bare feet which was part of the wife's motivation for sand.  Now the only problem is its supposed to rain all week which means I can't bring the tractor in the yard this weekend...yesterday I was working about as slow as I could and it still tore things up in spots    No way in hell I'm wheelbarrowing 10 tons of stone!

[Live to Hunt]

Looking good swamp yank

[3Blade]

4 hours ago, Swamp_Yankee said:

   No way in hell I'm wheelbarrowing 10 tons of stone!

Haha, been there done that.

[Swamp_Yankee]

The girls had a blast riding in the tractor cart down the lane to go pick small filler stones from the stonerow between the lane and the neighboring field. Piled up over the course of probably 250 years by untold numbers of nameless hands, the stonerows are an impressive feat of sheer persistence. Field hands and farmers would pluck stones worked to the surface by a combination of plowing and frost heave and move them to the edge of the field until they formed piles as much as 4 feet and hundreds of feet long. The large ones ringing the pit I've been putting aside for a while-some probably weigh close to 150lbs if not more. I judge the weight by the fact that I can pretty easily heft an 80lb sack of concrete, but these stones require a full on squat/deadlift pushing up with everything I have to lift: