How Far Does a Fire Pit Have to Be From the House in Allen?

It's getting cold, fire pit time. You've picked the spot, close enough to the back door to carry drinks out without a tray and far enough from the pool that nobody tracks ash into the water. Then someone at the cookout asks whether that's legal, and you realize you don't know how far a fire pit must be from the house.

Ask online and you'll get every answer from "I'd say 10 feet from any structure is your bare minimum" to someone whose town wants 100 feet. The honest answer around here is that it depends on which city you live in. That's frustrating when you just want a number, but it isn't hard to pin down before anything gets poured.

The short answer for Allen and the cities around it

How far does a fire pit have to be from the house?

Around Dallas the rule runs from 10 to 25 feet, and your city sets it, so the number in Frisco isn't the number in Highland Park. Wood pits usually need more room than gas, and your HOA can be stricter than the city. Call the city before you build and ask for the distance for a permanent fire pit.

Why there isn't one number for the whole area

Many North Texas cities start from the International Fire Code and then amend it. The base code keeps a recreational wood fire 25 feet from a structure or anything that burns. Frisco and Highland Park both wrote their own number for a permanent pit, and they didn't pick the same one.

Frisco says a permanently installed fire pit "shall not be installed within 10 feet of a structure or combustible material." Highland Park goes further: its ordinance says a fire pit "must not be installed within 10 feet of an adjoining property line, 15 feet from a residence or 10 feet from any combustible material," and caps the pit at 3 feet across unless the fire code official signs off.

Allen has adopted the 2021 International Fire Code with its own local amendments, and we couldn't read those amendments online. So for an Allen backyard, call City Hall at 214.509.4100 and ask for the fire marshal's office. Ask the specific question: how far does a permanent wood fire pit have to sit from the house, and does that change for gas. If you're in Dallas or another city not named here, make the same call to your own city before you build. Dallas readers can use the number on our Dallas page to reach a pro who works there.

The house isn't the only thing you measure from

When the code says "structure or combustible material," it means more than the brick wall of the house. On a typical Allen lot that list is longer than people expect.

The cedar board-on-board fence counts, and it's usually the closest thing to the pit on a narrow side yard. A wood pergola or a covered patio counts. So does a storage shed, a wooden play set, and the low branches of a live oak that hang over half the yard. A pit that's 15 feet from the house can still be 6 feet from the fence, and on a lot of these lots the fence is the measurement that decides where the pit can go. It's also the one that starts arguments. There's a long thread from a homeowner whose neighbor put a fire pit next to the shared fence, ending with "Since you are damaging my fence, I'm asking you one last time to please move it." I'd measure to the fence first, honestly, because that's the conversation nobody wants to have with a neighbor.

Look up as well as across. A lot of people ask about a wood pit under the pergola, and the answer from people who've tried it is plain: "Your roof will blacken, even if it doesnt burn." Someone in a landscaping forum put it this way: "I would not park an open woodburning pit under a wood patio cover beam." A gas unit under a cover is a different conversation, and it comes with the maker's own clearance printed in the manual, so read that before you pick the spot.

Wood and gas are treated differently

A wood fire throws sparks and smoke, so the rules give it more room. One homeowner put it bluntly: "Every time we use it we get smoked out," and on a close lot the neighbor gets smoked out too. Gas burns cleaner and doesn't throw embers, which is why gas is often allowed closer to the house, and why some neighborhoods land where one buyer's did: "we aren't allowed to have open fires but gas fire pits are okay."

There's a practical difference too. A county burn ban can stop wood fires even when your pit is perfectly legal, and that tends to happen in exactly the dry stretches when you'd want to sit outside. In one neighborhood's thread, after the fire marshal said no recreational fires during a ban, the recommendation was "a propane fire pit with lava rocks, as it does not produce sparks." If you're torn, the fire pits and fireplaces page walks through wood against gas in more detail.

Check the HOA before you check the price

Plenty of Allen and Plano neighborhoods have an HOA, and its rules sit on top of the city's. Some say nothing about fire pits. Others spell out exactly what kind of pit you're allowed to have. A few go as far as one homeowner described: "the HOA doesn't allow a visible flame."

The stories that sting are the ones where the pit was already built: "The HOA told them last week it all has to come down or the fines start." Another homeowner had the plans approved by email, then heard the property manager say "it was approved in error." Get the HOA's answer in writing before you sign anything with a builder. Ask whether fire pits are allowed, whether gas and wood are treated differently, and whether they need to approve the location.

What a good crew checks before they build

A good pro will measure the yard with you before they price anything. They'll mark where the pit can legally go, measure to the house, the fence, the pergola and the trees, and tell you which of those is the one that limits you. If the spot you wanted is too close, they'll tell you that before the base is dug, not after.

They'll also ask you to confirm the HOA's answer, and they'll check the city's distance for the exact kind of pit you're building, wood or gas, built-in or portable. The base matters too: the clay under most yards here swells and shrinks, so the pit needs compacted crushed stone under it the way a patio does. If you'd rather build it yourself, our guide on how to build a backyard paver fire pit starts with the same distance check.

If you'd like someone to look at the yard and tell you where a pit can actually go, the fire pits and fireplaces page shows what the work involves. Call (469) 283-6279 and we'll connect you with a paver and hardscape pro serving Allen, or send a note through contact us.