How To Make A Rink?

[Guest OSTOR]

So the season is apon us and I would like to start making a rink.

But How?

I have a farely large back yard and I only have a garden hose to make the rink with.

Do you have any ideas on how to go about doing this?

Do you have any pointers?

Any past experiences you want to share?

Thanks

[jon93 0]

http://www.rinkrake.com/Info/building.php

im gonna try and convence my parents on lketting me build one!

[irbenaid 0]

I think I can help a little. You have to check the slope of your yard. If you're planning on using boards to hold the water in and a liner then you'll need to know the difference from one end to the other for the length and the width to see how high the boards need to be. Either you'll need 2x6, 2x8, 2x10, 2x12. In my case I needed 2x12'6 just because the yard was sloped a lot in one section.

If you're not looking to make a gigantic then you could get 30x60 6 mil. liner in the paint section of Home Depot. I would suggest getting white if they have it since the black would melt the ice quicker.

To hold the boards up just drive wood stakes in the ground and then screw the boards into the stakes. I also used a metal connecting plate(cheap) in between each board.

The wood is the most expensive part.

If you have any more ?'s I'll be sure to check back.

[Konig von Kuhlem 0]

Back about 15 years ago, we made a rink in our backyard, but the grass under the ice died. :( How do you make a rink without killing the grass? Does a plastic liner under the ice solve this problem?

[JR Boucicaut 3802]

It's the liner that kills the grass. You get the same effect if you have those plastic kiddie pools in the summer.

[stunner 0]

lol when i was a kid i flooded my backyard, but it was cement...come spring it was all cracked ans screwed up. prob cause of the ice expanding.

[Konig von Kuhlem 0]

It's the liner that kills the grass.  You get the same effect if you have those plastic kiddie pools in the summer.

That's what I originally thought, but I was looking at an old thread and it had a link to an article about building a homemade rink from scratch.

http://www.southcoastal.com/history/rink.htm

It said:

"The question we're asked most frequently is: doesn't the rink kill the grass? No. Indeed, the plastic liner serves as a kind of green house so that the grass that had been under the rink is often turning green ahead of the rest of the yard."

Also, a guy at my work told me that he uses a tarp under the ice of his rink and removes it in the spring before the ice has completely melted, so that it can breath. He said, "That way the grass doesn't die".

I don't know if this is true or not.

[beaver5 1]

weve had a rink in my backyard for 4 years now. the grass is still nice and green in the summer and now problems with anything like that. we box in the area we want with 2x6's and then a clear plastic liner goes down onto the grass. sealing it with some sort of tape really helps to so your sure there is no leakage in the seams. i wouldnt suggest painting lines because when its a little bit warmer that area melts VERy quickly. we made that mistake one year.

:)

that plastic liner didnt kill the grass at all. a friend of mine also made a rink but his dad just kept flooding the grass until it was ice and he didnt lay down a liner. his grass was effed the next year.

[irbenaid 0]

I had to do a lot of digging the 1st time around to get my yard anywhere near level enough to put the rink in even using 2x12's. Unfortunately last winter was very warm and I got only one week of use out of the rink. What a great week it was though.

Where there was grass left it did not die. The liner I used is a rink liner that is black on the bottom and white on the top. This will be my 2nd time for the rink so I'm hoping for a colder winter.

Each night I would flood it with hot water to make it as smooth as possible.

I don't think the liner is going to make it past this year though because I already have a big tear in it that I have to try to seal.

[Hobbes_86 0]

Has anyone tried the Rink in a Blink system?

Rink in a Blink

Basically it is a bag you fill, let freeze, then cut off the top sheet.

Been thinking about giving it a shot for the past few years but everytime I get serious about putting down ice we get an Indian Summer here.

[NuggyBuggy 0]

Has anyone tried the Rink in a Blink system?

Rink in a Blink

Basically it is a bag you fill, let freeze, then cut off the top sheet.

Been thinking about giving it a shot for the past few years but everytime I get serious about putting down ice we get an Indian Summer here.

I did this once. You fill the bag with water, cut a few slices in the top before it freezes, then slice off the top when frozen. The problem when I did it was that we had a thaw before it froze solid, and I promptly had a deflated plastic bag that could not be reused since it was all sliced up. I think I may have made the mistake of overfilling the bag a bit, so I had shell ice inside and was extra vulnerable to a thaw.

After that I built a frame with 2x6 boards, bought some heavy duty liner, and took care not to flood too much at one time. That worked much better, and even withstood a few short thaws. If you don't have boards there will be nothing to retain the water if temperatures rise, which is why I wouldn't recommend the plastic bags unless you live in an area where you are certain that temperatures will stay below zero for an extended period of time. They are also fairly expensive.

Although it worked great, even my tiny surface of ice (10' x 20') was a lot of work to maintain.

[Guest OSTOR]

And I forgot to add the problem that we have quite a bit of snow around here so that makes things really crappy

[Guest OSTOR]

Also how did you guys tie the 2x6's together?

Its warm out today so I was gonna go out and get on that.

[Chadd 916]

And I forgot to add the problem that we have quite a bit of snow around here so that makes things really crappy

Shovel it off and pour some hot water on to smooth out the ice.

[badsk8ter 0]

http://www.hpurchase.com/backyard.htm

Awesome website for backyard rinks. It will answer all your questions, and then some.....

[irbenaid 0]

Also how did you guys tie the 2x6's together?

Its warm out today so I was gonna go out and get on that.

Ostor,

You could just use small pieces of wood to tie them together or for a few bucks (under a dollar a piece) you can just get small metal plates with screw holes in them to tie the boards together. You don't need much because the stakes really hold the boards in place.

[Hobbes_86 0]

Thanks for the tips NuggyBuggy...I will keep them in mind.

[SickLife 2]

i wanna build a roller rink in mine. it doesn't get cold enough here for ice. but i have a 68x80' yard that never gets used. figure could atleast do a half court roller rink.

[Powerfibers 8]

Can you make a backyard rink safely over concrete if you use a liner? WIll it crack the concrete pad underneath? Thanks.

[lawryde 0]

There was an Ask This Old House about making your own ice rink. Haven't been able to find a clip of it on the web though.

[Powerfibers 8]

I'll look for that. My grass is messed up and would not work because of divots and the slope, but I would love to make one in the back driveway if the concrete will be safe.

[Michael9 57]

Actually, if you use a clear plastic the grass will be just fine, but if you use a white or colored plastic this is when your grass dies. The white plastic makes the rink look alot better the grass is very brown and yellow when you take your plastic on, but it gorws back very fast. I just put up my bakcyard rink two weekends ago it's 96ft by 36ft. If any of you guys have questions about backyard rinks pm me, I have been doing one for a long time now.( see my pic. it's my rink from last year.)