First thing is first. Let’s show you what exactly you will need to build your pit. Remember you can buy all of this at either your local Home Depot© or Lowes©!

Explanation and Materials Needed:

62 – 8″ x 16″ Cinder Block – These are the building blocks, literally, of your pit.  I dry stacked my blocks on a level surface.  They don't need to be mortared together unless you want to create a permanent cooking feature in your back yard.

8 – 8″ x 8″ Half Blocks – I wanted my pit to look nice and uniform and not have any rough edges.  I purchased 8″ x 8″ x 8″ half blocks, or half sash, to accommodate my design.

32 – 8″ x 16″ Patio Block – Although these are not necessary for you to build your pit I wanted to accent it with a different color.  I purchased 8″ x 16″ red patio blocks to add some color and to give a little extra height between the pig and the cover, once again to create room for smoke circulation.

2 – 8′ x 30″ Corrugated Metal Roofing – The corrugated metal roofing is used to cover the pit while cooking.  Most stores that carry this are going to have galvanized roofing.  You would not want to cook on galvanized material as it can release toxins into your food.  However, as a cover it will work perfectly fine without any danger of contaminating your food.  Your pit will not get hot enough for this to happen.

1 – 4′ x 8′ 9 Expanded Metal Grate – This is the same material you might see on landscape trailer or metal storage bins.  This can be used as a cooking surface.  The lower the gauge you purchase the thicker and stronger the material is going to be.  I purchased 9 gauge.  However, 13 gauge is half the price and will work just as well, as you are going to need supports underneath the grate anyway, for a cooking surface as large as mine.

The method to my madness, as stated earlier, was based upon building my pit around my cooking surface.  By purchasing a singe 4′ x 8′ piece of expanded metal grating I could have a cooking surface that would be large enough for a pig, without having to pay the extra cost to have multiple smaller sheets, or have the larger sheet cut down.

Angle Iron – This is going to be used as your block supports to create your openings for your charcoal.  They will also be used as supports for your cooking surface.  A flat piece of metal bar stock will not work as it does not have the support strength, and will begin to flex.  I happened to have a couple pieces of 8 foot long garage door support beams that I cut up and used for my support pieces.  They worked perfect and are cheaper than buying pieces of real angle iron.

2 – 16″ x 24″ Sheet Metal – HVAC department at Home Depot or Lowes.  It is much cheaper than buying the individual pieces of stock metal.
You could also simply use additional stacked block at each opening.  However, there will just be a little more work involved each time you would like to add charcoal, or control temperature.

Notes:

Cinder Blocks – Home Depot sells these blocks for $1.00 a piece and the 8” x 8” x 16” corner sash pieces separately for $1.10 each.  Lowes, however, includes both types of block together on their pallets, and sells them all for $1.00 each.

Half Block – Both Home Depot and Lowes sell these for $1.10 each.

Patio Block – I got my patio blocks at Home Depot for $1.00 each.  Lowes, in my area, only carried the thicker 2″ patio blocks and I didn't want them to sit that high.

Metal Roofing – Lowes was the only place that carried this material.  It had to be ordered from Home Depot.  A single 30″ x 8′ sheet was $17.

Sheet Metal – Both Home Depot and Lowes carry this product.  Look in the HVAC department and there are various sizes you can choose from.  I purchased two 16″ x 30″ sheets at $6 each from Home Depot.  This was way cheaper than the $15 each Home Depot wanted for their 12″ x 24″ stock sheet metal.

Expanded Metal Grating – This was the only material I had to do some searching around for.  I found a supplier that sold this for $80 per sheet for 9 gauge.  As mentioned earlier you could use 13 gauge priced at $40.  However, if you plan on keeping your pit around for a while, try to find a place that has stainless steel grating.  A sheet that large will cost about $200 but it might be worth it as it won't rust like the other expanded metal sheets.

For more information about the design, building, laying blocks and the particulars about how your pit should look on the inside, please go to Caught Smokin. It will give you a lot more detailed data and you will also see some terrific photos on how the put will look as it’s being built and the final product!

Then, once your pit is finished, have that backyard end of Summer get together with friends and family!