Backyard Rinks

Any body make a backyard rink? I started doing this a few Thanksgivings back for my boys, and they love it! Had them skating at age three and I wish I had them on skates earlier!

For a 20 x 40 rink, all I do is nail a bunch of pallets together and staple a tarp to them, fill it up with water, and PRESTO!

Looking for tips/ideas from you guys as I want to improve it a little more every year.

Here are some tips I can pass:

1-MOST IMPORTANT – Do NOT make your rink above/near your septic tank – you will be sorry to the tune of around 10K!

2- Keep any all debris off the ice – sun will heat it up and it will burn into the ice.

3-make it close to the house for little kids – I can only imagine you move it farther away as the kids get older.

4-flood lights – it gets dark way too early!

5-Metal chairs – best was for kids to learn to skate – have a couple for them to scoot around with at first for confidence, not long after they need to go away as to not become a “crutch” – also make sure to give the little guys a ride around the rink full speed on it

Lets see your rinks and please share any and all insights!

First picture is my rink, second and third is where I’d like to end up to in a few years

Anybody know where to get 30 free pallets? Seriously.

geez! look at that thing! you can skate around after a dip in the hot tub…brilliant!

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How do you keep it from killing your lawn?

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3/4 of mine sits on a concrete pad, but the other 1/4 did not kill the grass, I think ’cause I had it off as soon as it started to melt.
The apple tree has more to worry about, had to cut a major limb off last year, and next year we will remove the whole thing to double/triple the size of it

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Anybody know where to get 30 free pallets? Seriously

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You could try versa – lok / Patio town in Oakdale. They have a core charge on their retaining wall pallets (meaning the reuse them) but not on their patio block pallets. They always have huge stacks of pallets, they might be able to help.

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How do you keep it from killing your lawn?

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Scott, I know of three people who make these in their back yard and they use VERY thick plastic underneath it. That does the trick. I forget the ml that they use, but it’s the thick stuff that you can get at Home Depot.

Must you use 1 big tarp?…..Or can you seam a couple smaller ones together?

Is plastic sheeting better that a tarp?

Thanks,

Scott Mueller

why don’t you just start with overlapieng your tarps and or plastic. the heavier mill you use, the better, it will be for holding water. I would also use a fine mist to start your ice. I work up at the super rink in blaine as a zamboni driver, I have learned alot about ice, what an eye opener. good luck to everyone back yard rinks.

shane

Free pallets on craig’s list all the time. You guys take this skating thing pretty serious. Weird.

skating is my winter fun, I play hockey and look forward to outside ice as soon it can get here. I will have a rink in my yard wehn I get a house with a yard.

shane

2008/09 Rink is built and already has a skim of ice on it!
Couple more tips:
-If you use pallets, try to get them all the same size
-Wind is not your friend with a 50′ tarp
-Don’t forget the “SIN BIN” for penalties

that is what the snow banks are for. head first to cool them down.

shane

Two questions.
1) when are all of us IDO guys supposed to come and play?
2)Who actually hads rinks 2 and 3? Those are crazy.

This is my first year with a backyard rink so I am not an experienced rink builder.

I poured a 20×35 backyard rink in Northern Illinois last week (8 inches at the deepest point and 3 inches deep at the shallowest).

This morning I checked and there was approximately 1-2 inches of ice formed. We had about 3-4 inches of snow today. It has formed a “slush” over the top. I can’t shovel the rink because I am likely to break through the ice.

It looks like we have more snow on the way overnight.

Has anyone come across this issue? Is it best to just leave it be? Does anyone have advice based on experience with this type of problem?

J

There’s an active 5 page thread like 20 topics down. Check there. I tried linking but this site is weird.

Thank you