Backyard Ice Rink Tips
We’ve been getting a lot of hits on my backyard ice rink post so I thought I’d add some more tips.
- Location, location, location. Besides finding a flat spot, examine your yard early afternoon and see where the shadows are. Our rink is actually in the front yard since that is the north side. The house casts a shadow over most of the rink which makes a HUGE difference during a warm spell. One area of the rink will get sun and start getting slushy, while the part in the shade is still frozen solid.
- Timing. The temperature is starting to drop and while it is real tempting to put that rink together and start filling it up…WAIT! The air might be cold, but you need to wait until the ground is frozen. I jumped the gun last season and filled up as soon as I assembled the rink. The air temperatures were cold enough at night to freeze, but I ended up with an iceberg because the ground was too warm and kept melting the bottom of my rink. It might be tempting to try walking on the ice when its like this, but it will crack easily and can give you ridges when it refreezes. Wait till you have a few days where the day time highs hover around freezing and the ground gets frozen.
- Leaf skimmer. We got a pool this summer and I’m excited to be able to use the leaf skimmer to get the leafs out while I’m waiting for the water to freeze. Any foreign object sitting on the ice that catches the suns rays will melt holes. This is another reason to wait a little while before filling up your rink…let those leaves come down and get raked up. The skimmer will also be handy to rescue any salamanders that decided to go for a dip.
- The water from your hose is WARM. My first year when I was experimenting with ways of smoothing the ice surface I made a lot of mistakes and they all boiled down to the same thing. That water coming out of your hose might seem cold, but it is too warm for your ice. If you put too much water in one spot it will melt holes in your ice or could shock it and make cracks. Worst case it will melt all the way through and create air pockets. Buy or build a rink rake…you won’t regret it.
- Benches. Keep those picnic benches out this winter. Put them alongside your rink so the kids have a place to sit and take a break. My boys love to pretend they are the penalty box.
- Christmas Lights. I make sure to put some of our Christmas decorations near the rink. The extra light lets you do some night time skating and really makes you feel all Norman Rockwell-ish.
I’ll post more tips as I think of them. Right now I have a platform bed project at the top of my to-do list, but once that is complete I’ll assemble my rink and put plenty of photos on the site. So far it seems like we’re heading for a normal winter and we’ll hopefully have some ice before January.
One consideration with your liner is that the kids WILL step on the edges. Not a problem if you align it the same way each year. Last year was my first using a tarp and it seems to have held up great. Notice I got one with a silver side to reflect the light. Any dark colors would be a bad idea.
Start ‘em young! Ben is 2 1/2 in these pictures and Ethan is 4.
Yay, backyard ice rink pictures! Even if they’re from last year! Though our own backyard is too small (well, maybe not) I always feel a rush of creative energy when I read about your rink and see photos. You guys really make things wonderful for your kids and have such fun with them. Having fun WITH our kids makes life more fun for us! Putting in the time and effort to do things in a meaningful way is not always easy, but it’s always worth it.
~Paula
But what if all of a sudden your ice just cracks what should do then?
Rip some cheap 3/8″ plywood into 8″ strips and use them to hold the tarp to the insides on the rink boards. 3-4 screws per board holds the tarp way better than a few hundred staples. Position them so they are 1-2″ frozen inside the ice but keep the screw holes above the ice level. Leave 1-2″ of tarp slack at the bottom. It saves your tarp from tears and extends years to the life of it. It’s much easier than staples. Best of all it looks professional and keeps the puck from flying off easily.
I have a friend who uses a laser level but I just put 2″ of water to find level. Leveling Egyptian style!
Use thinner plywood for curved corners. Once you try it you will never go back to staples.
Many thanks for the tip on the rink rake! It saved me over an hour compared to spraying with the hose.
We live on a lake. I plow with an atv. This year we got a foot or so of snow on top of about 4 inches of ice which caused a lot of water pressing up between the top of the ice and bottom of the snow. Thus, I had a lot of 4×4 tire tracks in the slush that have now pretty well filled in with the spray and now the rink rake. (NOTE: I did not plow when there were only 4 inches of ice!! This would be extremely dangerous, perhaps fatal! I waited until there were 8 inches before venturing out with the atv.)
I just drill a hole in the ice and put in an electric pump, connect the garden hose and it works great. Afterwards I turn the pump upside down, drain it and store it that way in an outside shed. Then when it’s time to flood the rink again, I prime the pump with warm water just in case it may have frozen up a bit. This morning at 10 Degrees, it took about 10 minutes to unthaw. You can tell if the pump is frozen because the motor just hums and the pump does not turn. When this happens, turn it off immediately and wait a few minutes for the warm water to loosen it up.
The rink rake did a real nice job and the new ice froze in about 20 minutes.
We live on a hill so I just pull the 100′ hose up to the house right away and it drains. When I use it again, it is usually partly frozen, but within a minute, the lake water pushed out what little ice there is and it works fine. We’ve had quite a bit of below zero weather here but this hose storage method works ok and is much easier than bringing it inside.
Our grandkids spent six and hours skating yesterday and they are getting ready for the rink now to get in a few hours before the Packers play.
Again, thank you for the tips.
Merry Christmas to all!
Tom Laney
Colfax, Winsconsin
Just yesterday i built my rink. I made it 16×50. I live in town so its a town yard. Last night into this morning we had an snow/ice storm so i have a snow base with the ice on top. I didn’t have time to get a tarp yet so this will have to do. And i noticed like consecutive rolls like speed bumps. Will this level out once the ice builds up?
Thanks
Adam
Adam – I’ve never built a rink on top of snow, but I’ve read that you need to compress the snow first. Some people just walk all around it, other pull a sled with weights. Otherwise the weight of the ice will make it compress and create cracks.
If you have bumps, try using a rink rake. Yo can flood build up between the bumps and flood on top of the bumps to melts them down a little. Once you build it up enough it should be fine.
Thank You John, I had planned to build the rake this week once i get some extra money and take a trip to Lowes. As for the snow, yes it was packed pretty good, but like you said it should be fine. And another thing, it looks like the snow built up in my corners, like the snow ramped up into the corners.
Hello, thanks to your tips and advice i began building my very own backyard rink. It is in process, but I chose NOT to buy a liner. My rink is 20×30 and with Christmas around the corner I did have the spare cash to drop on a liner (I may regret this later). Anyhow I’m seeing some results already as we just received 6 inches of snow. I packed it down and started to fill with water, already I have a decent base going. For the parameter I used 2×6 boards and screws. I’m very excited and so are the kids. I built my own rink rake out of PVC and a hose valve, it’s awesome. Thanks and happy skating!
Hi
I have narrowed the slope of my yard to about 6 inches…im assuming i will need 2 inches of ice in the shollow end so that would make my deep end 8 in. My rink will be 45 by 20 so im just wondering if I will need ALOT of water and if this isnt very cost friendly.
Do you have to pay for water or is it just the electricity to run the pump? Usually takes me 2 or 3 nights to fill mine and my well is very slow. You could put the liner in before there is a forecast for rain to save some money or even buy an extension to put on your gutter to run the roof runoff to the rink. Only problem might be getting some junk in the water. Some screening over the end could help with that. I don’t notice a spike in my electric bill the month I fill and I figure I only need to use it a few times to make the money back compared to paying for ice time at open skate. Plus its our own private rink.
For your sideboards, keep in mind that 2 inches makes a good BASE, but you will want to groom it during the winter with a rink rake to keep it smooth. Plus the deeper the ice the better you can survive any warm spells. Also remember the ice will expand so 2 inches of water will grow when it freezes so plan for some extra height on the boards.
DEAR PEOPLE,
WHAT IS THE BEST PLASTIC TO USE FOR A LINER?
THANKS
RON
There’s a lot of options, but here’s my experience
1) Buy white or clear plastic. Anything dark will get warmed by the sun and melt your ice. White is the best choice.
2) I tried using a silver tarp from Lowes once. Worked for 1 winter, but the ice stretched it and it was filled with little holes. So from I’ve only gotten 1 winter out of whatever liner I pick so I look for something cheap and then freecycle it in the spring.
I’ve been buying a 6 mil roll from Lowes of clear plastic. It is 20′ x 100′ and unfortunately is the widest plastic they offer. This winter I’m going to try using a hot glue gun and duct tape to make a wider sheet. Next winter I’m going to try hunting down a larger white sheet. I’ve seen everything from white tarps, boat shrink wrap, to that white wrap used for silage posted on here. Seems like a lot of options, just a matter of hunting it down in your area.
Anyone know if the white plastic will ruin the grass? I know people have said that the clear plastic creates a greenhouse-like effect and the covered grass comes back quicker and greener than surrounding areas. The last thing I want is a 48×24 area of dead grass.
You can get 40×100 6mil plastic sheets from a lumber store. They don’t sell them at Lowe’s or Home Depot but our smaller, local lumber yards will special order them.
Hi John R., You say that you buy 40×100 plastic sheets from a lumber store…where can i find them? I’ve been desperately looking for a 40′x60′ roll/sheet for a week and can’t find anything! I’d appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks.
What about seams? I want to expand the rink by using two separate pieces of liner. Any suggestions?
Sorry, Eric B. I’ve been MIA since that post because I’ve been working on assembling my rink. My local lumber store carries them. Not a Lowe’s or Home Depot but the small local lumber yard. I bought a 40×100 roll and split it with my brother in law. He’s been building a rink for a few years and usually uses half the roll one year and half the next. I hope this helps.
How do you make a rink rake? How does it work better than just flooding the rink?
Hi
I am just wondering how I should attatch my liner to the boards of my rink. I am hoping for my rink to be 26 by 45. I have a tarp sized 30 by 50 but am thinking that there will probably not be enough excess tarp to wrap it under the boards. I am also thinking it would be a bad idea to staple the tarp to the boards before I fill the rink because the tarp is bound to shift. Therefore, I do not want the tarp to tear because I attatched it too early. How can i secure my tarp to the boards(by not rapping it underneath the boards) and not have to worry about it ripping??
I learned the hard way that stapling will lead to tears. Seems that no matter how well I think I’ve put the tarp down it always shifts.
Do you have any clamps? I wonder if you could either clamp the tarp directly or sandwich under a 2×4 and clamp the wood tight. You’d have to keep an eye on it while it fills to make sure the tarp doesn’t pull lose and let the water pour out.
You could also try screwing scrap wood on the inside of the rink. You would screw it above the edge of the tarp so it would also sandwich the tarp against your boards. Once the water is in I think you would need to staple the liner and then remove these extra boards.
That is a good idea…will the tarp pull when it starts to fill with water if it is clamped…could this cause the tarp to rip??
Thanks for all the tips. I have bullt my first rink this year. One question, how do you know when it is frozen enough to skate on? We are having 5-10 degree nights and 20-30 degree days. My deepest corner is about 6-8 inches and the ice appears crystal clear in that corner, should it change to a mirky appearance when solid?
I do the “dad test”. I put one foot on the ice and slowly put more weight on it. If you see the ice pushing down and get a lot of water coming up the sides, then stay off. If you hear big cracking stay off. If you get just a little water coming up, but ice doesn’t move, go for it.
My rink is 60 x 42 feet. I purchased a roll of 32 x 100 ft. 6 mil plastic from PlasticSheetingSupply.com (http://www.plasticsheetingsupply.com/plastic-sheeting-c-36.html). I unrolled the plastic the full 100 ft., leaving it folded as it came from the factory, and then cut it in half to make two 50 ft. lengths. I placed the two lengths (still folded) side by side with the exposed edges overlapping each other by about 4 inches. (Important: Leave the plastic folded as it comes from the factory through the whole process. This is the easiest way to handle a large sheet.) Then I used an iron set on low heat, along with some waxed paper to prevent the plastic from sticking to the iron, to bond the lengths of plastic together to produce a sheet that is 50 x 64 ft. when unfolded. Experiment with your iron on some scrap plastic liner of the same thickness for proper heat setting and to get an idea of how long to hold the iron on the plastic to get it to bond securely. Not enough heat will create a poor bond that will seperate if you run your finger between the plastic sheets. Too much heat will melt the plastic and cause holes to burn in it. Just the right amount of heat will produce a water tight seam that is very strong. If you need to patch a hole, just iron on a small piece of plastic liner over the hole – it seals it perfectly.
I also used some old 6 mil plastic as a sub-liner placed under the top liner to provide protection from any sharp objects that may be on the lawn (sticks, stones, etc.).
When spreading your liner(s), get them as wrinkle-free as possible to avoid portions of the liner sticking up too high above the water level as you flood it.
We had temps in the single digits overnight the past couple of nights, so I have about 2 inches of ice that is solid enough to walk on.
Skate on!!
Hi: Great tips……I have a pond rink that has gotten to be very smooth due to the rink rake, and keeping it clean of snow. Now after some thaws and re-freezing weather changes, there are some pretty large cracks on the surface that have formed. Anyone have any easy ways to repair them? or do I just need to keep putting layers on top to fill them in over several floodings? Thanks!
I started making a backyard rink after two big NH snowstorms…I hand shoveled a good sized area maybe 80 x 20. Then I tamped down the remaining snow bed underneath. This was supposed to be a Christmas present for my husband and kids but I was slow to get it done. Any way, now I am at the plastic liner portion. I have no wood but excellent snow bank sides. Any further advice? How long will it take me to flood this area and what is the method I should use?
We are in NH as well, and have begun to build a rink using snowbanks with some plywood as the sides. I don’t see why the snowbanks wouldn’t work–we’re fortunat enough to live in a part of the country where we know they won’t melt for a few months!
We started to run water, and most of the ice cracked. We had air pockets , and now we have just a mess on our hands, because the dogs walked on it and cracked everything. How do you prevent the air pockets from developing? Is there a way to fill them in when they do? What is the best weather for freezing? Do you want a quick, hard freeze or a slower one?
Thanks!
Are you using a liner? If not, I would recommend it.
Here’s what I know about building a rink on top of snow. Pack the snow real well and then lightly saturate with water and let it freeze. Repeat until your base is solid. Then use a rink rake to start building. A lot more work than if you used a liner. The danger is that if you use too much water it will crack or melt through and create the air pockets or shell ice. Even using a liner, if you put too much water on top of ice it will crack. The advantage with the liner is you can flood it all at once and let it freeze. Then work on resurfacing. If you get a warm spell, the rink will melt, but once its cold it will freeze up fine all over again.
thank you soooo much!!!!! i love your rink info!!!!!!!!!!!
Hello from Toronto!
I built my first backyard rink (12×24) and did the first flood last week on top of a Canadian tire white tarp with some boards I put in before the first snowfall (it was finally showing below zero in the long term forecast, and the evening I flooded last week went to below 12).
I got the lowest part to about 2″ deep, and then ‘deep’ end of the slope around 6″. It’s frozen solid after a few days, and I built a rink rake according to the instructions (thanks john!) and have been out twice when the weather was between -10 and -15 to get rid of some bumps and smooth out the surface.
It’s worked great so far and the ‘deep’ half is in really great shape, but tonight, while walking the rink rake over the ice about 15min into it, I heard and saw a lot of cracking, primarily just below the surface of the ice mostly in the shallow half of the rink.
I am really hoping I can just ignore it, and keep flooding away over the next few nights – maybe even get the first skate with the kids in tomorrow and have their friends over on the weekend. Do I need to take any action about this cracking to keep the ice in good shape for the winter? Is a little cracking to be expected for such a small and shallow rink, and I should just let the kids have some fun on it right away and keep sweeping and flooding the surface from time to time with my new pvc rink rake to keep it smooth?
Thanks and great site!!!
Any suggestions in regards to adding water to my existing rink? I have about 1 inch of ice on one end and 3 inches on the other end. I’d like to get the ice a little thicker on the shallow end but i’ve heard that just adding water may not work because the additional layer of ice won’t “fuse” to the original layer – any truth to that?
John K.,
I’ve never had problems with fusing, but I have had issues when adding a lot of water to existing ice because it will melt the ice in some areas, but not others. It might melt to the bottom and float once section while the other stays low, creating an uneven surface.
That being said, this is prime ice making weather right now. I say go for it. Try adding another inch of water to the rink, let it freeze, and then spend your time resurfacing to smooth it out. When you do get to resurfacing, as long as your boards are tall enough, really give it a heavy flood to build it up even more.
Good luck and let us know how it works out.
Great site! Great to hear others’ experiences and Qs.
I have been having a LOT of cracking in my ice surface (32ft x 56 ft) I have tried using hot water and regular temp water but I still get very loud cracking and now these cracks are getting significant enough (I think) to weaken the ice. I do feel like my ice surface is weak. I have been flooding a lot because the conditions are REALLY cold. Any ideas on how to avoid so much cracking? I want my ice to be stronger.
Thanks a lot, great site.
Justin,
Ice will crack on its own as it expands. Only natural with a large surface. If you ever walk out on a lake during the winter the cracking can be deafening.
On a pond it could be a concern since the ice could move down into the pond. On your yard the ice can’t go anywhere. Just be careful when flooding to keep an eye on water finding its way into a crack. THe warm water could make the crack wider. If this ever occurs just pack the crack with snow and do a light flood with the rink rake to saturate and freeze the ice.
The only time I’ve ever had a displaced crack (where one side became higher than the other) was when I got on the ice too soon and there was water underneath. Once your ice is completely frozen there is no place for it to go.
We have a huge rink and have made numerous errors from sloping to the liner now a double liner. Water seems to be going no where…… should we just give up!
Thanks for the advice and feedback John. I have subsequently been using way less water when flooding the rink and I still hear a little cracking (naturally) and I have been packing the few areas that are wider that 4 millimetres with some slush and then lightly watering. Gradually the rest seem to be dissipating with the light coatings in this cold weather.
Funny… I hate gardening on a nice summer day but love being out nit-picking a slab if ice when it’s -30 Celcius.
Thanks again John.
Justin
Hi John,
Well it is snowing today. I have some very solid ice surface areas. I will clear the snow on those surfaces and then use the snow to pack in the areas that are thin and cracked. I will use a spray on my hose to lightly soak the patch areas. I will let the patch areas freeze. Once the patch areas freeze I will then try to build one of those rink rakes to smooth out the entire surface. During the cold snap, I will try to build up the ice surface on the weaker spots so we can get some more skating in in February. My only concern will be a thaw. Hope fully it will stay cold long enough to enjoy skating into FEB.
First rink this year… in Ohio. All the entries in your site helped, plus a little trial and error.
John. My rink is 36 by 48. I built the Ice Rake and my surface is awesome. My climate can be a problem and sunshine is my enemy. Half the rink has pretty steady shade throughout the day but the other half receives significant sunlight. I purchased 2 white boat tarps that were 20 X 40. I planned to use the tarps to cover the rink during the morning and midday sunshine. I planned to cut them to 20 X 36 and use bungees to hold them tightly to the boards.
In my mental model, I would stretch the tarps tightly over the boards so that they did not touch ice. In reality, I will not get that kind of tension on the tarp over a 36 foot spread — the tarp will sag and lay on the ice. In fact, the tarp will have significant ice contract. I have not implemented this solution because I am afraid the tarp will freeze to the ice surface and then tear/ruin my surface when I pull it up. I considered placing a large object under the tarp to create a low tenting affect. But, that also creates a sail affect with the tarp, raising questions about how it will behave even in moderate wind.
Have you seen any ideas on shading a backyard rink during peak daylight that will not harm the surface??
Joe,
That would be my ideal rink…shade and shelter from snow and wind.
The best solution I’ve seen is a barn
Seriously though, I have the same issue. My backyard rink is actually in the front and as Spring approaches the sun gets higher in the sky and the difference in the ice is startling. Especially if a leaf gets on the rink on the sunny side. Melts right in.
I went with higher boards this year and next year I plan on painting them white to help reflect the sun. I haven’t seen any other solutions. For your tarp idea I think you would need to tent it with a center beam going over the rink. Doesn’t seem like a practical solution though.
Hopefully someone else will see this comment and suggest ideas.
First timer here from MN. I constructed and flooded rink while my 4 yr. old was away for a week with mom visiting in-laws. I didn’t get much sleep that week but well worth it. That was early December and ice is still great, -3F today. Anyway, just stumbled upon your site. I wish I would have weeks ago. I learned through trial and error but end result is great.
I did construct a pvc rink rake / squeegee combo tool with an on/off valve which is handy. Cost was under $30.00 and works well. Also, I calculated slope so ice, when level, is flush with top of boards at end with highest slope. This way, I can cleanly push ice clumps or pine needles off the end when I resurface without butting up against boards.
This is great family fun and your dedication to this site is appreciated!
Hi John
The exchanges on this site are great. I live in Rochester NY and have a 24×40 rink. I believe I started too late and tried filling when it was already well below freezing so the water started freezing as it was going in. So, I have a chunky uneven surface. It is still well below freezing so I am thinking about flooding some more. I wonder if it will continue to freeze unevenly. Maybe I’ll just go for it. Any ideas?
Hi Tony,
I live in Eastern Ontario and built my first rink in mid-January. It’s all snow, base and banks. To get an even surface in really cold weather, I’ve found that several applications of warm/hot water with a rink rake will create reasonably smooth ice. In the following 24-48 hours, the resurfaced area has a tendency to “tighten” and smoothe itself out even more. It’s not artificial-ice quality, but much better than the ice found at outdoor city rinks.
we have a rink ; like alot of people around here in southern ontario , who have a bumpy surface because of the temp up and down process. what would you recommend to smooth them out? repeated thin sheets of cold water or hot water ?
thanks