HawthorneVillager.com

I am going to attempt my first small backyard rink this winter. My plan is to set up the boards and stake them into the ground while it is still soft, then I will put the plastic in just before it snows/starts to freeze. As this is a first, I am looking for tips and tricks. There is a lot of advice online but I would like to hear from fellow villagers.

I also want advice on managing the outdoor tap. Once I have used it how do I keep it from freezing up? Do I need to leave it open and close the valve in the basement every time? Seems like a PITA!!

my family used to use plastic tarps over the lawn before spraying water down. helps in the spring so you can break up the ice and put it somewhere else to melt instead of soaking your backyard.
and like said, put water on in thin sheets. once one sheet is frozen, spray some more water on. make sure it's even. we had a big squeegee to plow the snow off and to help spread some of the water into the grooves (make shift zamboni)

Make sure your ground is level, this seems to be everyone's biggest mistake. They seem to think if they lay down a few board, a tarp add some water, they have a rink. Yes you will but it will take a lot of water to fill your rink if it is uneven. More water = more time to freeze. Shorter use period, and wet spots in the rink on warmer days.

A smaller rink on a flat service is far better then a larger rink on a 4" slope

Tractor Supply sells heated hoses that don't freeze up... hot tub stores do also, but they're a few hundred dollars cuz they're for hot tubs lol

We have an External Freezeproof Tap on our house works great. We never have to close down this tap for the winter, it's usable all year long.

could also fill up a bucket from inside and spread it nicely over the entire area creating a nice sheet. don't just dump it in one spot as it would just create a high spot.

If it dosen't look like this when it's done, your doing it wrong.

LOL!!! Thanks, that was awesome....

Another awesome trick to getting picture perfect ice is to line up your family from the kitchen sink to the back yard. Then start passing coffee cups of hot water from one person to the next, you know...Like an old western fire drill.
Clearly advice from somebody who has never, ever made a rink...

So here is some advise from somebody who does make a rink every year.
Mine is 80' x 110' and there is only one way to do it so we can use it all year.
Southern Ontario has some unique challenges with the weather which makes it a challenge.

Put the boards down and then make a bowl with a liner.
If you don't put water in it right away say good buy to it and try again next year as the first bit of wind that gets under it will misplace it by a Km or 2 in minutes.
So once the bowl is built. Put 3 or 4 inches of water in it. It will take all day. Stop once all the high spots are covered by at least 1" - 2 would be better.
Sit back and wait for it to freeze. Go out daily to pick out any crap that gets into it. Don't underestimate the importance of this. A simple brown leaf 2" under the ice will ruin at least 2 square feet of ice once the sun hits it and can take weeks to get it back if you ever manage to.

Once it freezes, probably mid December or so, then go out and start applying layers of water to it.
best time of day is late afternoon when the sun is not quite down but still warming up the surface enough to slow the freezing so you get a nice smooth finish.

Some hints. Take the time to paint your boards white. Unfinished wood not only deteriorates in a hurry and kills the boards for next year, but the boards that face the sun will absorb the heat and melt a couple of inches of ice on sunny days. Get close to it with a skate and you slice right through the liner.

I always use boards to back the liner and the then another layer of boards on the inside as well so the liner is sandwiched between the boards. if you don't do this skates, sticks, and pucks will damage that line in a matter of hours and the first melt we get, the season is over.

like Pete said - Buy a rink tarp. it is white and reflective. You get to skate much sooner in the year and the season will last much longer as well. During those feb melts we get here in southern ont. the rink will hold up way better and you will be back on it in no time.

NOT like Pete said - Don't use a sprinkler unless it is above zero outside. Otherwise the drops "Pebble" the surface and as you skate it all starts to chip up. Best is a hose with no nozzle, just water it and build it up slowly.

When it snows, get it off right away. If you leave it a few days the snow insulates the ice and starts to form crystals. Again, it could take weeks to get the ice back if you let that happen. If it gets bad enough, when you water it you end up with a sandwich of air/crystals and the ice on top is always cracking and chipping up.

have fun,
It is a lot of work but if your family skates, it is also a blast providing mother nature cooperates

It's ok, at least one person got it...

my family and i have built rink in our back yard for many years in the past. we used a few buckets after each skate to get the ice smooth again. once the thickness has built up enough, you don't need too much water to get it smooth again. our rink was around 14x50. not that big but it was a good size for a couple of us. not all of us had a nice big lot to build a 80x110 rink on. especially on these newer homes. on a small rink, a couple buckets would be much faster than dragging out the hose in -15c weather.

Fair enough,
The way you wrote it, it looks like you were suggesting that you could use buckets instead of a hose to fill it.
If you have done some light skating and just want to give the ice a dusting of water you could use a bucket but I have found that even the lightest coat goes on best with a hose.

For that final glass coat before friends come over for a party, I would attach the hose to hot water and just give it a very thin coat, the hot water melts any bits of snow and slows down the freezing a bit which makes for a glass finish...

Cant wait for winter!!!!

If you're gonna show off your rink, you're aware Costco has rink kits, right? It even comes with a decorating kit to paint the lines into the ice... it looks pretty nifty

Anywhere I've lived there has always been several public outdoor hockey rinks with indoor change room and small store for hot chocolate, hot dogs and coffee. A separate skating area for families too. Very organized by age group hourly and sometimes a Zamboni, other times just local parents with buckets. The goalies always live across the street and always willing to come on a door knock invite. Awesome that year I chose not to work.
Maybe the fairgrounds could open a barn concession stand/change room and host a sponsored outdoor hockey rink and skating rink? With either the Mohawk or Velodrome windfall proceeds.

_________________
No, no. You know who was right all along? The Mongolians. They knew that you just can't wall yourself off from the outside world. Putting walls up never helps anything. Tearing them down brings us together.
-Randy-South Park

That sound you hear is the 55 people in Milton scrapping their outdoor rink plans after reading jambels post. Just go to a public rink, folks.

It would be nice to have an outdoor one here. Growing up we used to live at the High Park outdoor rinks for shinny.

So my kids are still small and for the first attempt I am going to keep the rink small, 12 x 20. If it works out I will take my gazebo down next winter and make it bigger. Lots of great ideas, sounds like the freeze thaw can be an issue. I just don't want to freeze the pipes to the outdoor tap and have water everywhere in the basement when it bursts. I like the home-made Zamboanga ideas.