Backyard Ice Rink - Advice?

[RoaringSkates]

I've heard of people building their own backyard ice rink in their yard. I'm buying my first house this month, and it has a backyard (yippee!) I am interested in trying to create an ice rink back there in the winter months. Has anyone done this before? What do I need to do and to know?

What's the minimum size to get some use out of it? How do you construct it? Is the ice smooth, or terrible? Etc., etc. Thanks.

[Suzanne]

This article was in the paper recently about that very topic.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035776103819&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out!

[Mrs Redboots]

Try this link (http://home.pacbell.net/anamga/questions.html#1.19) for a detailed description of how to do it.

[GoldSeals]

I live in Florida.I wish I had one of these in my backyard:lol: Although I live 5 minutes away from a local rink.I would consider it in my backyard:lol:
Regards GoldSeals

[Mrs Redboots]

Well, it's impossible here, too - you skate on an artificial rink or not at all! With the exception of the past few days, the temperature in London very seldom falls below freezing (we have just had the most snow since 1991!), and when it does, it doesn't stay there all day. Even in the country you would be hard pressed to find any water bigger than a puddle to bear your weight. Backyard rinks are simply not an option here. A pity!

[Blue Line]

I have no advice/experience with the backyard rink kits that you buy, but when I was a kid, before we moved to a house on a lake, my dad built my sister and I a rink in our yard every year. Oh, what fun!

My poor dad spent hours and hours outside the first year he built it, trying to figure out the right combo. of water, slush, etc. to make and freeze us smooth ice. Once he got it right, we were the luckiest kids in the neighborhood.

Have fun with it...and congrats on your new house!

[arena_gal]

My rink this year is 24 x 36, that's the limit of my backyard without having trees in the middle of it. In reality it's not big enough for anything, we still spend a considerable amount of time at the arena. What it is good for is practicing 3 turns, spins, waltz jumps and axel simulations (waltz/loop), any trick you can do from a standstill. It's nice to be able to practice things without an audience and of course play your own music, and skate until all hours of the night, well, without annoying the neighbours,.

For hockey we use it for shooting practice and dipsy doodles only. It's not big enough for any sort of speed work.

And of course we play ball hockey, go sliding across it in boots and all the other things you can't do on someone else's ice.

Maintenance isn't too hard, as long as the kids do the main shovelling when it snows, it is important to keep the ice clear, snow makes it too warm and it melts. The biggest work is setting it up, and truthfully, we moved 20 yards of topsoil this year in order to level the backyard better, that's not typical, but we have our boards (2"x10" x 12') marked as to location and it's just a case of screwing them together. Some people do go completely off the deepend and make a full rink replica. Just remember that Wayne Gretzky's dad just put out a sprinker in the backyard every winter, and that was enough for them.

CBC/Hockey Night in Canada has a backyard rink contest this year, the rinks they are showing so far are typical of what people build - even having the tree in the middle of it. http://cbc.ca/sports/hockey/hnic/homeice/

[sk8er1964]

Originally posted by arena_gal

CBC/Hockey Night in Canada has a backyard rink contest this year, the rinks they are showing so far are typical of what people build - even having the tree in the middle of it. http://cbc.ca/sports/hockey/hnic/homeice/

Thanks for the link - it's interesting.

[CoolbugSuz]

Hi RoaringSkates!

We have a local weatherman here in Columbus, OH who makes his backyard rink every year. It's always a big to-do on the local news once he gets it made.

Anyhow, here's the link to information about his rink: http://www.nbc4columbus.com/weather/1788722/detail.html

I'd LOVE to put a rink in my yard, unfortunately there are three obstacles I'd have to overcome: 1) lack of a level yard 2) we just put down a new lawn last year, and 3) hubby would have a cow if I even asked about putting a rink in the yard. LOL!

Oh well, guess I'll stick to the enclosed rinks. :)

(La-La) Suz

[dbny]

arena_gal & CoolbugSuz

Thanks for the links. I saved both as Word docs and hubby already asked for hard copies. I'm hoping to have my own rink by next season after we are resettled in the Albany area.