I find that getting the "Base" started is the most difficult part of building a rink and also requires the most patience.
Often times, Hollow spots happen when too much water is applied at one time. Almost like painting, Several thin coats make for a better end result than a few heavy ones.
Anyway, Just break all the hollow areas by simply walking on them and crushing the thin ice into chunks and then fill the voids with water, Initialy these "chunks" of ice (that will float to the surface) will make the rink look like a real mess, But since you are going to be applying several more coats, they will soon be incased in ice (probably) several inches below you skating surface.
Hope that Helped.
BTW: My rink is at about 2" thick now, nowhere near "level" yet though. I'm going to go out and flood a few times today even though it's almost too cold as the water flows like molasses in temps like we have today. -24.
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Mine pales in comparison. I am too ashamed to post photos at this point and with the chinook on it's way mine might be horrible by the end of the week!
I think I'm nearly done. Just gave it a final coat a few hours ago.
I made one of these using the directions below except I used 1/2" pvc and it works a charm, might try it with a bit of cloth dragged behind.
Sorry bout the quality.
Sweet nice work... Mine was tough this year but finally got it nice and level/smooth ... Looks same as last year as posted earlier... My laziness is paying off as I didn't shovel the last snow off and it seems to have protected it pretty good from the warm weather the last week or so.
3 years ago I let my rink melt on it's own, Problem was I had a soppy mud pit until late spring. Ever since then I've been proactive about getting the chunks of ice out of the rink frame and into the flower beds.
Makes for a lot better lawn and enjoyable back yard.
Might as well tap into the collective mind of CP for backyard rink thoughts, ideas and suggestions.
I'm going for a 10' x 20' job. First year trying. Ground is level enough to take that with about a 3" slope at most.
Plan is:
Get 2x10x10 s and brace them lengthwise with wood and do the corners with deck joints to make the frame.
Place a tarp on the ground, place frame over the tarp, wrapping the tarp over the outside of the frame and into the middle. Fill with water. Plan is that the weight of water will hold the tarp in.
I've also been told to throw some grass seed under the tarp but don't know if the seeds will still be viable after the winter. Whatever, doesn't do any harm. Also been told that once the water thaws in the spring get the tarp up as quick as possible.
Some people suggested the packing snow technique, and spraying water on top but I've been told that one thaw in the middle of the winter will wreck the rink.
Might think it is a bit early (I'm in Ottawa) but one of my neighbours says that he throws his out in the middle of October and had his kids on ice at the start of November last year. Personally, I'll wait until all the leaves are down.
Anyways ...... thoughts/critiques?
I may sound like such a foreigner, but this is the first time I have heard of making a rink in the backyard! It sounds exciting! And it looks amazing!.
Last edited by FastFelony; 03-16-2010 at 03:48 AM.
Figured i would bump a thread seeings as it snowed a good deal last night.
I put my plastic liner in yesterday and collected as much rain/snow as i could, today im going to hose some of it down and hopefully create a good ice base that wont melt in the warmer weather that will of course be coming.
I set mine up last week and its definitely cold enough to get some ice there. I already ice forming and staying through the day even when it was warm this weekend.
I set mine up last week and its definitely cold enough to get some ice there. I already ice forming and staying through the day even when it was warm this weekend.
Sounds good, im going to try flooding tonight, i have to use a bunch of hoses just to get to the rink so hopefully they wont freeze. Should be fun.
I didn't find the flooding as arduous as others described. Some guys online suggested that when it's really cold the water like concrete and such, but that wasn't my experience at all. It's not rocket science...the one mistake I made though is putting too much water at a time. You need it to freeze solid, so just do thin layers and take your time. It won't all melt away on one warm day though, so don't worry about that.
Man I'm envious of some of those set ups. Sadly our yard just isn't big enough for such an endeavor ... plus I'm not sure the land lord would find it kosher.
I didn't find the flooding as arduous as others described. Some guys online suggested that when it's really cold the water like concrete and such, but that wasn't my experience at all. It's not rocket science...the one mistake I made though is putting too much water at a time. You need it to freeze solid, so just do thin layers and take your time. It won't all melt away on one warm day though, so don't worry about that.
Ah ok, its got snow/ice in it now, should i flood it so all the snow goes away? or can i set the sprinkler on top of the snow and let it get nice and condensed and then use that as my base and flood 1-2cm's as weather permits?
I ran mu hose from the laundry hookups inside. I know that you can use a hair-dryer to get water flowing, but I just couldn't make that work. Finally I just out the hose on the laundry hook up and went to town. It worked well for me. At first I used hot water (not by plan, but it doesn't make a major difference as far as I could tell). If you have access this is the way to do things though. No frozen pipes, hose can be inside and it works well.
I just watered down the snow last year and made sure it was really slushy. For a bottom layer it was fine. I wanted the top to be nice and smooth though, so I shoveled once I was there. I didn't use a sprinkler. I'm sure you could, but I just went out with the hose and did it myself.
You only need about 1" of water at a time, so depending on the size of the rink it doesn't take hours to do.
Slava, what did you use for a bottom liner? TylerSVT, what did you use?
My rink (first ever attempt) is on the Garden (only flat spot around) so I'll need something. I didnt put anything down before the snow because I thought I would want to remove the snow before freezing the rink. There is a good 6 inches of snow blown in I think its safer to shovel it out.
I wet and froze the ground before the snow, so the ground should be nice a hard.
I just bought a roll of poly and then put it together with acoustic sealant. I know that some guys don't use a liner of any sort though, and it could be done. My yard has a slope to it though, so I need something there.
Mine is 64'X32' so it is pretty large, i used strips of 6 mil poly (home hardware) and duct tape to hold them together.. My surround is 16' 1"x6" boards as the base.
My problem with using my internal water is because i live on an Acreage my water goes through our own internal cleaning system (chlorine and reverse osmosis) and would eat up lot of chemicals. My outside taps come straight from our well so ill have to use that, i heard wrapping hot wet towels around the pipe can help melt the ice.
