Outdoor living
Custom Outdoor Fireplaces
Built by hand to anchor your outdoor living space. No shortcuts. Built to outlast your house.
- Designed and built in-house
- No subcontractors
- Free on-site consultation
The Anchor of Your Outdoor Room
An outdoor fireplace is not just a hardscape feature. It is the defining wall of your outdoor living room. When you step out onto your patio, a massive stone fireplace draws the eye and sets the tone. It creates a destination. People naturally gravitate toward the hearth, pulling up a chair and settling in for the evening. We design and build these focal points by hand, right here in the Metro East.
Building a real outdoor fireplace takes serious masonry skill. A poorly built fireplace will crack, sink, or fail to draft smoke properly. We build them to draft perfectly so the smoke goes up the chimney, not into your eyes. We use high-grade materials from the footing all the way to the chimney cap. When we build a fireplace, it becomes a permanent part of your estate. It extends your patio season deep into the late fall and allows you to get outside earlier in the spring. You are not just buying stone and mortar. You are buying three extra months of outdoor living every single year.
Whether you want a towering natural stone structure with hearth wings and wood storage boxes, or a sleek cultured stone gas fireplace that turns on with a switch, we handle the entire project in-house. Our crew does the heavy digging, the concrete work, the block framing, and the final stone veneer. We never sub out the masonry. We control the quality because we are the ones doing the heavy lifting.
How We Build It
- Deep Concrete Footings: A full masonry fireplace can weigh thousands of pounds. We excavate down to solid ground and pour a thick concrete footing heavily reinforced with rebar. This guarantees the structure will never sink or lean over time.
- Solid Block Core: The bones of the fireplace are built from heavy concrete block, mortar, and steel. This core gives the fireplace its shape and structural integrity.
- Proper Firebox Construction: We line the firebox with authentic firebrick and refractory mortar designed to withstand extreme heat without cracking or failing. We build the throat and smoke chamber to precise dimensions so the fireplace drafts perfectly.
- Chimney and Flue: We install a proper clay or steel flue to carry smoke up and away from your seating area, capped off to keep rain and debris out.
- Stone Veneer: We face the entire structure in your choice of natural stone or high-end cultured stone. We painstakingly cut and fit each piece to ensure tight joints and a natural appearance that matches your home.
- Custom Hearths and Mantels: We cut and install solid limestone or flagstone hearth caps. We can incorporate heavy timber mantels or solid stone ledges, depending on the look you want.
- Hearth Wings and Seating Walls: We frequently extend the structure laterally with flanking walls, providing built-in seating or dry storage for firewood.
- Gas vs. Wood Configurations: If you want the convenience of gas, we coordinate the gas line trenching and install premium burner units and ceramic logs.
Featured Projects
Why JS Lawn
In-house Design-Build
One crew handles everything from the sketch to the final stone layout. We do not pass your project off to outside masonry contractors.
Estate-Grade Quality
We build for high-end properties. We do not cut corners on the unseen structural details. The footing and block core are built like a fortress.
Family-Run Craftsmanship
You deal directly with the owners of the company. We take immense pride in our stonework and our local reputation.
Built to Last Decades
Heavy materials require serious foundations. We over-engineer the base so your fireplace stands tall and straight for the life of your home.
Where We Build
We install massive masonry features across the Metro East. Our service area includes Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Collinsville, Maryville, Caseyville, and our home base in Granite City.
Frequently Asked Questions
A full masonry fireplace is a significant investment in your property. We quote the exact number after we design it during the consultation, factoring in stone choices and overall footprint.
We build both. Wood provides the classic crackle and smoke of a traditional fire. Gas gives you instant on and off with zero cleanup. It comes down to how you plan to use the space.
Yes. A full stone fireplace is extremely heavy. We excavate and pour a proper concrete footing reinforced with rebar to ensure the structure never settles, cracks, or shifts.
A fireplace is a focal anchor against a wall or the edge of a patio. A fire pit is a 360-degree gathering circle. A fireplace creates an outdoor room feel, while a fire pit is for larger crowds.
Ready to Build Your Outdoor Space?
Call (618) 560-4959 or schedule a free consultation.