Outdoor Rink Help

[reddeerguy2015]

I want to build an outdoor skating rink for the kids.

The area of the property (i'm on an acreage) has a natural bowl shape (as it collects runoff in the spring), so I was planning on just flooding the area, letting it freeze, flood, freeze, etc.

I was then thinking about piling snow into berms, spraying them with water and letting them freeze for the total desired rink size and then filling inside of the berms with water.

The issue I seem to be having is I think the ground is absorbing the water (it was frozen when I started). At first I was just letting the hose run for awhile - today i've moved onto using a sprinkler with hopes it cools off spraying a larger area rather than spilling a bunch of water in one single spot.

Has anyone built a rink this way?? I want to avoid the use of a liner, if possible. Maybe I just need to wait until its colder outside, flood for shorter amounts of time, more often ??

Tips please

[backpacker]

Sounds like it is too warm to freeze or there is a spring in the bowl area.

[GWC]

In the old days we always had a backyard rink. You can't really start until ground will stay frozen with repeated light sprinkling of water building up layers. Patience is required here and your ice sheet will evolve. Don't worry about berms - they will shape up when you shovel snow off the rink soon enough! Congratulations on your fatherly initiative - there should be more Dad's like mine was and you are!!

Originally Posted by reddeerguy2015

I want to build an outdoor skating rink for the kids.

The area of the property (i'm on an acreage) has a natural bowl shape (as it collects runoff in the spring), so I was planning on just flooding the area, letting it freeze, flood, freeze, etc.

I was then thinking about piling snow into berms, spraying them with water and letting them freeze for the total desired rink size and then filling inside of the berms with water.

The issue I seem to be having is I think the ground is absorbing the water (it was frozen when I started). At first I was just letting the hose run for awhile - today i've moved onto using a sprinkler with hopes it cools off spraying a larger area rather than spilling a bunch of water in one single spot.

Has anyone built a rink this way?? I want to avoid the use of a liner, if possible. Maybe I just need to wait until its colder outside, flood for shorter amounts of time, more often ??

Tips please

[anthony5]

Thin, thin layers at time until you have a good frozen base, then let the water flow to level off the area for the rink. If the flood is really heavy it will create air pockets and you will have to break all of the shell ice and repeat as above. Once it is fairly level things will get easier. If you have the option of give the rink a warm water flood every once in a while it will make the surface way easier to maintain. If you don't have a 2 x 6 or 2x8 wood frame around the area just wait until the snow falls and you will have all you need for containment. Way to much fun with an outdoor rink until a Chinook shows up and then you have to start all over again. Enjoy as often as you can as it may not last long
Great thing for the holiday (Christmas season)

[schmedlap]

Originally Posted by GWC

In the old days we always had a backyard rink. You can't really start until ground will stay frozen with repeated light sprinkling of water building up layers. Patience is required here and your ice sheet will evolve. Don't worry about berms - they will shape up when you shovel snow off the rink soon enough! Congratulations on your fatherly initiative - there should be more Dad's like mine was and you are!!

In my case, in my high school years, it was a front yard rink, because we had a natural shallow depression (about 40 yards by 15 yards - smaller in years when it did not really fill up) in the corner of the vast front lawn, which would naturally fill with water (rain or melt) once the ground froze. If the surface was a little rough, or there were chunk outs and pits, Dad would break out the hose and fix it. All the kids in the village would round up, every age, some with skates and some not (actually the "no skates" games were the most fun? - a real skill to learn to control one's trajectory and stops and turns on glare ice in winter boots), and go at it for hours.

[reddeerguy2015]

Well thanks for the kind words GWC.

My 6 year old has been driving me and the mrs crazy with his roller blades in the house - he's ready to get back on the ice. And so are we!! lol

Figured a project like this would ramp up that timeline. Currently being a seasonal out-of-work oilpatch guy - I've got all kinds of projects on the go with all kinds of time to complete them.

Cheers!

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by reddeerguy2015

Well thanks for the kind words GWC.

My 6 year old has been driving me and the mrs crazy with his roller blades in the house - he's ready to get back on the ice. And so are we!! lol

Figured a project like this would ramp up that timeline. Currently being a seasonal out-of-work oilpatch guy - I've got all kinds of projects on the go with all kinds of time to complete them.

Cheers!

Awesome dad!
Find your location, if snow is on the ground you can scrape your outside walls and build up with snow, lightly spray with with water to freeze. As said in another post the key it to lay down small amounts of water, let freeze, thus will build a solid ice not to fall apart as in shake ice, repeat multiple times until you get your desired depth, it is an addiction, 11 pm outside with the hose all night spraying and building up the ice level, cold enough temps and if you stay at it two days and your little fella is on it.
Oh yeah if you have the space bigger is better because you and others will skate and play shinny, it's addictive!

[Hydro1]

Local house in town has a small 20x30 ish rink in the front yard. Appears to of been made with a large tarp, and some 2x6 to contain the ice.
Walked by the other day, kids were having a blast.
Feel free to share some pictures of the process once you have it figured out.

[ganderblaster]

It is leaking somewhere. Be very careful to flood the ice in thin layers maybe half inch at most to avoid leaking and air pockets. We found the trick to good ice is many layers not a few thick ones. Once the rink is going if you sweep the skating dust off with a shop broom it makes for very nice ice without a zamboni. We used to have a small community rink on the acreage. It's almost more fun to make good ice then to use it.

[reddeerguy2015]

You guys should have seen the look on the wifes face when she got home from work and seen me "watering the lawn" at 8pm. Hahaha she thought for sure i'd lost it.

Just been doing quick bursts with the sprinkler now instead of flooding. Ill report back with progress in a day or two.

[Kim473]

Your springkler may give you a curling rink kind of ice with the peebles . Good on you for making one. Hope you have a snow blower for when it snows.

[reddeerguy2015]

Originally Posted by Kim473

Your springkler may give you a curling rink kind of ice with the peebles . Good on you for making one. Hope you have a snow blower for when it snows.

No snowblower...but a 6 and 4 year old fully equipped with snow shovels...

[Bigwoodsman]

I built one for my daughter last winter what a blast building it and using it. Used 2x6 for a frame 30 feet long 20 feet wide. Started to early and didn't get good results, but when it got cold it was great and easy to build. Light dusting of water from the hose and wait 20 - 30 minutes and repeat. Late November last year and the first part of December it was in the minus 20 to 30 range and made great ice. I'll remember Christmas 2014, the hockey game got out of hand and there was a broken window to boot. Great fun though by everyone strung up some lights around the fence and garage eaves, put a few flood lights out great time. Haven't had enough snow or cold yet this year and now with the dog we will go and use the neighbor hood lake for skating and shinny.

Build it, you will have a kid magnet! Lots of fun and good time too.

BW

[TROLLER]

Go to UFA they sell the liners for rinks. Another place if they are still there is backyardrinks.com

[reddeerguy2015]

Been watering religiously with the sprinkler the last 24 hours. Looks like a base is starting to form. I think it will start making real progress after the weekend when we get some decent overnight lows. Fingers crossed.

[lyallpeder]

I do our community rink and we pack the snow with a car, soak the snow till its gray then push up some snow for banks and wet/ ice them. It works good but it does take awhile.

[reddeerguy2015]

Originally Posted by lyallpeder

I do our community rink and we pack the snow with a car, soak the snow till its gray then push up some snow for banks and wet/ ice them. It works good but it does take awhile.

\

I think ill bring the sled out of the garage tomorrow and give a few passes - pack it down, and continue watering. It seems the area i've been watering with the sprinkler is forming a "swiss cheese" type of ice and it needs to be packed down.

[lyallpeder]

Originally Posted by reddeerguy2015

\

I think ill bring the sled out of the garage tomorrow and give a few passes - pack it down, and continue watering. It seems the area i've been watering with the sprinkler is forming a "swiss cheese" type of ice and it needs to be packed down.

Might just not be enough water fast enough. We use a 2ish inch fire hose and soak it till the snow turns grey. Once it's sealed you will build so many layers that a little less than perfect base won't be the end of the world.

[Immigrant]

I was going to build one using thick poly and sealing the seams with tuck tape, and folding the edges over a 2x6. It will not be water tight but should work? Any experience with using that?

[reddeerguy2015]

Originally Posted by Immigrant

I was going to build one using thick poly and sealing the seams with tuck tape, and folding the edges over a 2x6. It will not be water tight but should work? Any experience with using that?

I was originally going to try this with the recommendation from a friend that says he's done it this way.

In my case the area I want to turn to ice is pretty big - I don't want to fork out the cash for all the required 2x6's if I can get away with what i'm doing.

[lyallpeder]

Now that I have some snow for banks it will build up faster. It's far from ready but it's getting there.

[reddeerguy2015]

Originally Posted by lyallpeder

Now that I have some snow for banks it will build up faster. It's far from ready but it's getting there.

Why doesn't mine look like that!?!?!? Nice work!

I think I am going to fill up my 500 gallon water tank and flood it with a 2" transfer pump tomorrow evening when its good and cold. I've been freezing garden hoses like mad haha.

[Clgy_Dave2.0]

Yeah I tried the whole "back yard rink" thing. Thinking "how hard can it be?".

Soaked all the snow down good. Stomped, rolled, banked, etc. Temps of -15 to -20 at night.

If I used the straight 1/2 garden hose, it just melted a spot through the ice and the water soaked into the ground. If you used a sprinkler for an hour, there still wasn't enough water to get a good layer. Every night I was out there, freezing my fingers off for an hour after work.

Then the weather changed and it was plus 7 or 8 for a few days straight, (Thank you Calgary Chinook) and melted all my work away, and I hadn't even gotten a good base down.

I stood there looking at it and realized "there is a perfectly good set of two rinks within 3 blocks away, that have lights, boards, nets, warm change room with vending machines".

All for free.

[lyallpeder]

Originally Posted by reddeerguy2015

Why doesn't mine look like that!?!?!? Nice work!

I think I am going to fill up my 500 gallon water tank and flood it with a 2" transfer pump tomorrow evening when its good and cold. I've been freezing garden hoses like mad haha.

This is the easy part, wait till your trying to build a fine smooth skating surface!

You are using cold water right?

[coreya3212]

I have been giving a neighbour a hand with his yearly rink. He has been short on time and weather. It's coming into shape now, but we have put 40 000 litres on it over the last 4 days. Kept losing volume to the ground with no snow base to ice up at the start. We fill my cement truck and three 250 gallon tanks each day and are gaining now to the point of where light floods should finish it nicely for the Christmas hockey game.

[The Fisherman Guy]

Sprinkler application works best in temperatures of -25 and below. Spray the sprinkler up into the air as high as possible, and you will build 2" of good ice a night. We used retired fire hoses and a fire hose nozzle at the community rink, with a rig that held the hose and nozzle pointed skyward for the cold nights where we were rebuilding thickness. Once the base is down, we just used the hose and no nozzle, and flooded the ice for even level ice.

As is said, thin layers at a time is crucial, especially in temperatures higher than -10.

[reddeerguy2015]

I've been using cold water, normal garden hose, with an oscillating sprinkler. Ive froze up and wrecked one hose so far (a cheapie - the good hoses actually drain when rolled out).

My problem is, being on an acreage with a small holding tank for the well - i can only run the hose for less than two hours at a time (about 350 gallons) before I suck the well dry. Wife doesnt like having no water in the house - rink or not...lol.

It takes about 2 hours to refill tank and try again. Otherwise id run the damn hose all night long.

Tomorrow night ill run into red deer, fill up a 500 gallon tank and flood it i guess - see what happens.

Would it be better to just open er up and let it flood - or bring out the 2" honda transfer pump and hose and spray it down ???? I feel if i just "dump" it, most will be lost.

Sheesh