Quote:
Originally Posted by Bagor
Thanks for the replies.
Just remeasured. Can do a ~20x30 job with room for expansion next winter when I shift a mountain of topsoil next spring. Big enough IMO for two little uns that are just starting. Plus with the amount of snow we get here I need to leave some space to shovel it to.
A few questions. Actually ... quite a few. 
Any specific reason for a white tarp as opposed to a cheap and cheerful Canadian Tire blue job. For aesthetic purposes?
So are you saying, have the base ready for the first snowfall, then give it a good tamping, then water it? Couple of inches tamped base good enough?
What's your definition of a heavy flood? An inch/1/2 inch at a time? What's roughly your finished thickness of ice including the tamped snow? When you say a week or so ... are you flooding daily/every 2 days ...? I'm now thinking I might as well get 2x12s.
Firstly, that's one hell of a rink!
Are you applying the water directly to the grass or waiting until there is a layer of snow on it? Is the ground frozen when you're applying or are you saturating it? No ill effects to your grass the next year? (that's the main complaint I've been hearing from folks that don't use a tarp). Same question ... how much depth do you mean by an "application"?
You folks using treated wood or just regular?
Yeah, I'm planning to get a couple halogen work lights, attach one to the fence and build a stand for the other. |
Yeah as said above white tarp to protect from the sun... another benefit -is your ice looks white, but major reason is the sun...
I use the first good snowfall to make my base, I go out and walk on it to pack it down then water it to make it slush then drag a shovel over it to semi flatten it then a couple of 4x4's with weights on them dragged over to smooth it out... It doesn't freezed smooth at all but gives you a good base... Heavy flood to me means when you have about a quarter inch of water sitting on top (over the entire rink) - remember early on it will be uneven and you will have indents etc. to fill. Don't forget you want to build it when you have a span of 5-7 days with at least -10...
I might be the exception but when building on the grass I always had problems the next spring and summer - since the tarp it's been fine but up to you...
Some of the best advice I got was cold water for building thickness and hot water for levelling and smoothing... It looks awesome after a quick hot water flood!
Crappy picture but from last year...
