Outdoor Fireplaces, Fire Pits and Kitchens in Syracuse

Ask your own town or village, and get it in writing. New York publishes no statewide or county frost depth: Section R301.2 says the local jurisdiction establishes the additional criteria, and the frost line depth column of Table R301.2(1) is printed blank for the jurisdiction to fill in. The Department of State's technical bulletin confirms it and lists air freezing index, soil type, water table depth, local historical data and field experience as the inputs a municipality may use. The 42 and 48 inch figures that circulate online came from somebody's field experience, not from the code. What the code does give you is a floor: Section R403.1.4 puts no exterior footing shallower than 12 inches below undisturbed ground, before frost is considered at all.

Possibly neither, and that is the honest answer nobody in this market gives. Section R403.1.4.1 exempts free-standing accessory structures of 400 square feet or less of other than light-frame construction, with an eave height of 10 feet or less, from frost protection altogether, and a garden fire feature can sit inside that. It also allows a footing taken below the frost line, which is the deeper reading. Both quotes can be defensible, and the difference between them is thousands of dollars, so the decision belongs to your code enforcement officer rather than to whichever mason you liked more.

Not for this. Section R403.3 applies only to buildings whose monthly mean temperature is maintained at not less than 64F, and it states that frost-protected shallow foundations shall not be used for unheated spaces such as porches, utility rooms, garages and carports. An outdoor fireplace is unheated construction, so the remaining routes are the frost line depth your municipality sets, an ASCE 32 engineered design, solid rock, or the accessory structure exception.

Under 3 feet in height and under 4 feet in length, width or diameter to sit inside the state's exception for campfires and small cooking fires, and only charcoal or dry, clean, untreated and unpainted wood may go in it. Brush burning is prohibited from March 16 through May 14. Towns, villages, cities and counties may pass stricter ordinances than the state, so check yours, and size the masonry to whichever rule is tighter before the stone is ordered rather than after.

In much of this metro, yes, even where the patio around it needs nothing. The Town of Clay lists fireplaces, stoves and inserts among the work requiring a building permit, and the Town of Cicero lists fireplaces, pellet stoves and wood stoves. Neither town's list names a patio. Cicero also requires a permit before excavating or filling more than 10 cubic yards and a floodplain development permit for any work in a 100 year flood zone. Zoning setbacks are a separate question from the permit and they usually decide where in the yard the thing can go.

New York sits entirely inside the Severe weathering category, which is the worst of the three, so Table R402.2 sets higher minimums than a mild climate would. Porches and steps exposed to the weather require 3,500 psi at 28 days, and exposed vertical concrete requires 3,000 psi, both air-entrained at 5 to 7 percent by volume. Ask to see the delivery ticket. It is the one line item that is easy to shave and impossible to inspect afterward.

October is workable and November is a different specification. The Syracuse normals give October 12.8 nights below 40F and 3.8 at or below freezing; November gives 25 nights below 40F and 15.5 at or below freezing. October is also the wettest month of the year here, at a normal 3.89 inches. So if you are offered an October slot, take it and ask one question: what happens if the job slips three weeks, because that slip changes which cold weather requirements apply and what they cost.

Section 770(3) defines home improvement to include patios, terraces, landscaping, porches and other improvements to a home and the land adjacent to it, so Article 36-A applies. That gives you a written contract carrying the approximate start and substantial completion dates with their contingencies, a progress payment schedule in dollars and cents tied to named stages, notice that pre-completion payments go into a Lien Law deposit or are covered by a bond, a contract of indemnity or an irrevocable letter of credit, and notice that you may cancel in writing until midnight of the third business day after signing. None of that is a concession you are asking for. It is what the statute already requires.