Victorian Fire Pit by Necessories

Beautiful fireplace! Easy kit to put together. Puts the final oomph in our oasis. Thank you for such a beautiful work of productive art!

Necessories Colonial Fireplace & woodboxes: I'm not handy but have a family friend who is overly skilled professional in carpentry, welding, concrete work, etc. Thankfully he was able to help with this project. The time lapse videos on assembly are deceiving.

Ordering – P&P are fantastic with their customer service & priced competitively. The original order was for the colonial fireplace and instead of the usual fireplace fireboxes that are compatible with it, we wanted the matching woodbox cabinet kit which supports more weight on top (it's free standing - standard fireboxes need the fireplace to support the lid of the firebox – see pic). They incorrectly sent the fireboxes. That would be fine if we hadn't already assembled the fireplace first (as instructed). You have to assemble a specific brick on each side of the fireplace to face out (see pic) if you're using the matching fireboxes. Wasted days finding a solution; used a hammer drill into the brick and placed a metal "pin" into the brick to support the top.

Prep – We didn't have room for it on our patio so we decided to pour a concrete pad ahead of delivery. Using our construction friend's help, we assumed a 4" deep pad and we gave it about 2" extra in perimeter to be safe but directions state 4” (see pic) so heads up.

Delivery - brutal. Scheduling was fine but driver (only one person) calls me about 20 min away - "is there anyone who's going to be able to help me unload this”? I guess that’s now me. Who sends one guy to unload 8K lbs of stone? He has a small moving truck with a liftgate. When he went to move the first pallet, the lift gate was smaller than the pallet. Now he's shoving the pallet jack (with stone on pallet) while I'm asked to steady the steering from the ground with 2K lbs of stone, 6' over my head, on to the liftgate till the end of the pallet jack slides off (my) edge (hanging off liftgate in the air); hoping he has enough clearance to lower the gate to the ground. It wasn’t, and it caused the pallet to bounce and drop onto the liftgate on the way down (about 2' drop each time). Several stones had chunks/imperfections and unless you plan on unwrapping and inspecting each stone while he waits (which is impossible) you have to sign and accept and see what damage has occurred later.

Unpacking - You have to scrub the dust off each stone before adding your adhesive to build it - I bought a wire brush that attached to my reciprocating saw to help speed this up. The color variation was minimal vs the way it looks in the pic (beachwood color); If you want pristine, colorful pavers, I wouldn't go with this.

Process - started with the fireplace per the instructions. Be sure to constantly check to see if you're level. They provide plastic shims which are fine for parts farther away from the fire. Once we reached the opening of the fireplace (where the fire sits), it wasn't level at all in the front/right above the opening - where the decorative gray middle "top" goes. I didn't realize the smooth/polished side of the hearth, middle "top" and tops of the fireboxes are supposed to be facing smooth end up. We put the rough side up as it seemed to match better. There is a large, heavy metal angle that comes in the shipment as it supports the top of the opening of the fireplace (where fire sits, across the opening); not rust resistant so time will tell if stains will drip on the stone and it's longevity. It’s unlevel again right above the fireplace opening and where the gray middle top sits. Plastic shims may melt so off to a box store (rhymes with moes) and buy a couple of flat steel pieces. Our friend has a special electric saw/blade that cuts metal. We made homemade metal shims to level out the middle part. The bricks are not perfectly smooth so you're going to have issues with leveling. We then completed the special firebrick interior - tricky part because you have about a 1" space that remains per instructions, in the back between the outside wall of the fireplace and the firebrick. We eventually finished and moved on to the fireboxes. The firebox tops sit against the fireplace wall (see pic). The tops are really heavy as it's one piece. It was a struggle for 2 people and definitely better with 3 people. There are natural gaps along the side of the top where it meets the fireplace wall; we are caulking it with outdoor caulk for brick to help prevent leakage on to wood.

Used it the other night with no issues but this was exhausting. If you are doing this for the first time as a novice consumer, you learn (the hard way) from it. You may not find anything cheaper for a decent paver fireplace. P&P are great to work with so this product is of no reflection of their customer service but just know it wasn't done in 2 hours like the time lapse implies (hilarious).

If you go with gas log (we didn't) per necessaries, you drill into the back of the brick once assembled for the gas line.

My wife and I were at a garden center and saw a outdoor pizza oven that we really liked... but not the price .... so I did a little research and stumbled upon this place.... ended up getting the Victorian DIY with hearth and Wood box .... and the next day we bought a Lisbon Wood fire pizza oven and stand as well ... eveything for basically what just that oven we saw cost at the outdoor store.

So the good: Price and overall look.... could not go wrong wrong with our choices, instructions were very simple and easy to follow as well.

The bad: well I’m pushing 50 and a bit beat up from 25 years active army ... it is not a simple 2 hour job ... took me a lot longer to do than I’d like to admit (granted that’s playing with it after work).

I’d also like to say the Customer Service was outstanding as well. ... and a added bonus ... the pallets make great kindling

I ordered this to be shipped to my work. So I could bring it home on my trailer instead of getting dropped off at the "curb" for me that is over 500' from my house. Showed up w/o warning, luckily our shipping guy is a bud so he took care of it for me. Two pallets 2400 pounds each. That was the only glitch is the whole process.
Some hints on the build
Before you start un stack the pallets, separate the blocks in each size. Pay attention to any that may he bigger chips or ones that are very nice, this is a lot of work but will save a lot of time when you start building. Saves a lot of time when you get rolling if all you have to do is grab blocks from a stack. Also there are slip sheets between the mantel They are nice to stack blocks on your deck to protect the surface. I used more glue than sent. Two extra tubes of glue for the fire bricks and 5 extra 8 oz tubes for the block. Also I would recommend planning on a couple of days to do the build, let the glue have set up time this will stop blocks fro shifting when building layers. Very important when placing the mantel and the top caps. I did the whole thing alone over 3 days, total of about 20 hours.
The instructions at first look like They are lacking information which are, but after you get rolling they work pretty well. Make an extra copy so if one gets damaged on the job you have an extra set.
I had heard that these units do not draw well, ours is perfect. Draws so well that you can see ashes pull toward the rear during a fire.
We know this fireplace will last use for years Pizza and Patio was great to work with and offered the best price we found. This has been a great experience.

I ordered the Victorian Fireplace, Wood box and Hearth. The fireplace was delivered a week and a half later, even during Coronavirus social distancing. At first, I was not sure that we could build this fireplace, but true to the instructions, it was like putting together a 3D puzzle with step by step directions. We did get quite the workout lifting all of the stones. It turned out fantastic. We did have the wrong hearth shipped, which we did not realize until the build was almost complete. That is where the excellent customer service comes in. Both Pam and Janelle were very responsive, and made it right. Thank you for your assistance throughout the purchase.

Really enjoyed working with Patio and Pizza Outdoor Furnishings. They answered all my questions promptly and helped with great advice. Very happy with my purchase.

After purchasing the grill island kit, that I love so much, I decided to purchase the matching fireplace kit. As usual the order arrived quickly and the order process was seamless. If you are looking to make improvements to your yard, Patio and Pizza has options for everyone.