Quote:
Originally Posted by TylerSVT
Draug, what was your method for getting a base???????
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My method is more or less a big troubleshoot, right from the get go. I'd never attempted such a thing.
The rink is on the garden, so in the late fall I rototilled the garden until all vegetation was in itsy, bitsy, buried pieces. This also helped level the garden.
Then, I put in my 20 foot 2x6's to make the outside frame. I should have used 2x12's. I put the frame in by pounding in stakes and screwing the 2x6's to them level. This resulted in a border that was touching ground in some places and off the ground in others. Instead of trying to seam fill the 2x6 joints, I just raked up some dirt along the outside of them and did the same at the ground level.
Next, I used my level frame as a foundation for levelling the dirt of the skating surface. I spanned from side to side with a board that was to just touch the ground. I used a rake to make the garden completely level within my border. I was within 1/4 inch everywhere.
At this point, I should have rolled the garden quickly with a sod roller, or something similar. There were lots of marble sized dirt balls that ended up sticking through my ice base until I got over 1/2" of ice frozen. Next year, I'll squash those down.
By now it was late fall, and was almost freezing every night. So, I watered the garden. I got the dirt good and wet. Right before that first good cold snap, I made sure the garden was good and damp. When it turned cold, the dirt froze rock hard, basically overnight.
Right here is where I should have got a plastic liner down. Instead, I procrastinated because it was so cold. Then it snowed. My rink blew right level with snow. I used my snow blower to get most of it out, but left about an inch.
I thought I could use that inch to make a slushy base by flowing water on it. Instead, it just made a lumpy mess. I only did a small area before I realized that was not going to work. But, I couldnt blow the rest of the snow out because of the dirt; I didnt think blowing dirty snow would be great for my new snowblower.
So, I watered down all the slush, with about an inch of water. Before it froze, I used a garden rake to level out the slush, more or less. This was all during those -15 temperatures we were having, so it froze nice and hard.
Then, I added water over multiple floods to even out the bumps. As I did this, the few dirt lumps I should have rolled were eventually buried. This left ice that is about 1.5 inches thick.
It is very level, with the exception of where the ice chipped out unevenly when we skated on it. As mentioned earlier in this thread, the consensus is that hot water, in a thin film, with leave me with ice that has less air in it and therefor harder.
My plan is to now try the hot water, and ensure that leaves a good surface. If so, I will then add my layer of plastic. At this point, the only purpose the plastic will serve is to make the ice look nice and white, and also help reflect heat away in the late winter. Hopefully, my ice will last a few weeks longer with white underneath it.