A couple things: 1.) Spend some time on ground prep. Make sure it's level and solid - if you do that, everything else will fall into place easily. 2.) Your firebox cover should be 1/4" thick at minimum. I had 1/4" steel cut to size and it did warp some while smoking a whole 140lb hog. Still seals well, but less than 1/4" I feel would not hold up as well. 3.) Fill the blocks with sand or other medium to hold in more heat. With that said, bottom line here is have fun, use what you have, and do what you can. We did zero ground prep work and didn't fill the blocks. It worked just fine. Some blocks shifted over winter, but it held up well, all things considered. OH - share your build and tag @scottfamilyhomestead so we can see how it turned out!
