Outdoor fireplaces and fire pits in Sarasota

Yes. Creative Edge Outdoor Living has built gas fireplaces on lanais, with surrounds in cream stone and in white stucco. What your lanai allows depends on the fireplace unit and the clearances its maker lists, so the ceiling height matters. Send us a photo of the wall.

Gas lights at a switch and makes little smoke; wood gives you the crackle and the smell of a real fire, but it smokes and can be restricted during a burn ban. Which suits you depends on how you will use it and where it sits. Every fireplace in our gallery burns gas.

Yes, if the fireplace or fire pit needs a gas line or a propane tank. The City of Sarasota lists gas work among the jobs that need a building permit (permit guideline 105.1). Manatee County's list of work that needs a permit includes "Natural Gas Line install" and "Propane Tank install" (Manatee County Building Division). Holmes Beach requires a permit for "Any alteration of electrical, plumbing, mechanical, or gas" and for "Propane tanks (including hook-ups, excluding 20 lb. portable tanks)" (City of Holmes Beach permit list). On Longboat Key, the town code says "A permit from the Town of Longboat Key for natural or propane gas installation shall be required for any permanently installed fire pit" (section 96.11, as reported by the Observer). Florida's exemption for work valued at less than $7,500 does not cover "Any electrical, plumbing, structural, mechanical, or gas work" (s. 553.79, F.S.). Outside the City of Sarasota the permit comes from Sarasota County, Manatee County or your own city; our outdoor kitchen permit guide lists every office in the area with its phone number. Confirm with the office for your address before you build.

Yes, a TV can go over an outdoor fireplace if it sits at or above the distance the fireplace maker's manual gives for anything mounted overhead. Heat rises off the firebox, so the height matters. One of the lanai fireplaces in our gallery has a TV above a reclaimed beam mantel.

Usually, yes, if your home is in a deed-restricted community, and some communities also say what a fire pit may burn. In Lakewood Ranch, the Summerfield and Riverwalk manual says "Permanent fire pits require Modification Committee approval" and asks for "written approval received prior to commencement of ANY change" (Summerfield/Riverwalk manual). The Country Club/Edgewater manual says fire pits outside pool cages "may only burn natural or propane gas and may not be in the front yard or visible from the street" (Country Club/Edgewater Village Association manual, 2022). Those are two villages' rules in the editions we read; your own association has the current version, so ask for it before you pick a spot.

It depends on the fire pit's own clearances and on your city's fire rules. Gas fire pit and fire table makers list in their manuals how much open space each model needs above and around it, and a lanai ceiling or screen can be closer than that. The City of Bradenton's fire department rules for the "temporary use of mobile fireplaces, chimineas, barbecue grills, and fire pits" say they "Shall not be used on a lanai or balcony", "Shall not be operated within 15 feet of a structure nor combustible material" and "Shall not have a total fuel area larger than three feet in diameter and two feet in height", and that an adult must attend them (Bradenton Fire Department). Those rules are written for temporary fire pits; whether they apply to a built-in gas fire pit is not stated, so in Bradenton ask the fire department before you plan one under a roof. Elsewhere, ask your own city or county, and send us a photo of the lanai so we can check the unit's clearances against it.

In Manatee County, yes, if it burns only gas and someone stays with it. During a county burn ban, the county allows "Liquified petroleum gas devices such as grills, camp stoves, fire pits or other devices that solely burn liquefied petroleum gas, natural gas, butane, naphthalene or other liquid fuel, provided they are attended by a responsible adult at all times" (Manatee County burn ban page). Wood-burning fire pits are not on the county's list of what is allowed. The fireplaces in our gallery all burn gas. Sarasota County issues its own bans; we have not confirmed its rule on gas fire pits, so check the county's current notice before you light anything during one.

The price of a fireplace or fire pit depends mostly on its size and finish. A fire pit in the open is a smaller job than a full-height fireplace with a hearth and a mantel. Call 941-879-4777 or send the form with a photo.