The French appreciate the brazier or the outdoor fireplace.
These decorative accessories also offer a dual function: auxiliary heating and cooking appliance.
The brazier, also known as a Mexican stove, is a compact heating device consisting of a metal basin filled with hot coals, placed on a tripod.
Its cousin, the outdoor fireplace, is made up of a smoke evacuation duct.
Very popular, they come in several materials, steel, cast iron, brick or stone, in all sizes and at all prices.
They can also be used as a barbecue, plancha or decorative element.
Are there any particular restrictions or permissions for using a brazier or outdoor fireplace?
Whether you live in a house or an apartment, there are no restrictions on the use of a mobile brazier or outdoor fireplace.
No more than a particular authorization of use is to be obtained.
Whether they serve as auxiliary heating, as a barbecue, or as a decorative element, braziers and fireplaces are not prohibited on a balcony, on a terrace or in a garden.
Good to know
On the other hand, for a solid outdoor fireplace, fixed to the ground, a prior declaration of work at the town hall is mandatory when the footprint is greater than 5 m2.
Is the use of braziers regulated?
If the use of the brazier or the outdoor fireplace is not prohibited, it can however be regulated.
Consult the municipal and prefectural decrees
A
municipal or prefectural decree
may limit their use to certain periods of the year or certain hours of the day.
Sometimes even completely prohibit it in the whole municipality or in the whole department.
This is especially the case in regions where temperatures are high with a dry climate, causing a significant risk of fire.
Check your home insurance
Your home insurance contract may also provide for an exclusion of cover in the event of a fire caused by a brazier or an outdoor fireplace.
Consult the PLU
The
municipality's
PLU
can also set special rules.
Do not hesitate to read all these documents before heating your exterior or cooking pizzas and skewers with this type of appliance.
Good to know
The opening of the flue of your outdoor fireplace must be located 40 cm above any part of construction less than 8 meters away, whether this construction is located at your neighbor's or yours
(
article 18 of the decree of October 22, 1969
)
.
Can the brazier or the outdoor fireplace create an abnormal disturbance in the neighborhood?
The occasional use of this type of object, whether you live in a house or an apartment, is
not considered an abnormal neighborhood disturbance
.
Conversely, intensive use can become so.
To be characterized, it must be repeated and be sustained over time.
Annoyed neighbors can obtain monetary compensation if they provide proof of harm.
For example, the blackening of a wall.
Our advice
Always warn your neighbors of the regular use of a barbecue, fire pit or outdoor fireplace.
This will avoid conflicts in the event of a cooking smell or fly ash.
Read the fileNeighborhood and conflicts: how to avoid them?
Balcony, terrace, garden, where to put your brazier?
The law is just as silent as to the authorized locations for placing your brazier or outdoor fireplace.
Provided that no municipal or prefectural decree provides these details.
As long as you take the usual precautions to avoid fire starts and burns, you can perfectly put your brazier on your balcony, on your terrace or in your garden.
Are braziers allowed in apartments?
Before installing your brazier or your fireplace on the balcony or terrace of your apartment, to warm up or have a barbecue, make sure that the co-ownership regulations do not mention anything about them.
Brazier or outdoor fireplace, what are the risks?
Most models work with wood or charcoal.
The immediate danger of these outdoor appliances is
fire
.
As the hearth is open, embers and ashes can fly away and start fires.
It is therefore recommended not to place anything around the brazier or the outdoor fireplace within a radius of 1.50 meters minimum.
And to install your equipment on a hard surface not afraid of heat.
The flames that emerge from the hearth increase the
risk of burns
, particularly in the presence of young children.
The fumes
and
odors
can bother the nearest dwellings.
Sometimes even constitute a neighborhood disturbance when the use exceeds the normal inconveniences of this one.
To limit these risks, a good alternative to wood can be the purchase of a brazier running on ethanol or gas.
In addition to following safety advice on fire prevention, braziers and outdoor fireplaces must be handled with care and always remain under the supervision of an adult.