Winter was settling in, and with the snow piling up, I decided that this year, my family and I were going to take on a project that would keep us entertained during the cold months. The idea? Build a skating rink in our backyard. Simple enough, right? Just throw together some boards, a tarp, and water, and voila! A winter wonderland. Or so I thought.
The Great Rink Kit Adventure
Before diving headfirst into this project, I did a bit of research. I found two main options: the DIY route—hammering together some 2x8s to create a perimeter, laying down a tarp, and letting nature do the rest—or purchasing a ready-made rink kit. Now, looking back, the DIY approach might have been the easier path, but naturally, I went for the more “handy” option: a hockey rink kit from Ice N Go. (https://icengo.com/pro-rink-kit/)
I picked the kit that required some DIY skills, thinking, “How hard could it be?” The kit arrived a week later, and as I unpacked it, I realized I had bitten off a bit more than I could chew. The instructions were clear, but they involved way more framing than I anticipated. Plywood, 2x4s, plastic fasteners—I suddenly found myself knee-deep in a construction project that seemed better suited for a carpenter.
The Building Process: From Fun to Frustration
I measured out the maximum space we could dedicate to the rink—a fair size at 20 by 40 feet—and got to work. The kit came with pre-made plastic fasteners and legs to connect the plywood and 2x4s, forming the rink’s perimeter. It sounded simple: cut plywood to the right height, snap it all together, unfold the massive tarp, and secure everything in place. Easy peasy, right?
Wrong.
What was supposed to take a few hours turned into a week-long saga. Between head-scratching over the instructions and wrestling with the materials, I began to question my decisions. Normally, I’m great at building things, being a Builder and all :), but something was frustrating about this process. Maybe it was the weather or maybe the fact that I had to pretty well build the whole thing from scratch when it was supposed to be a simple build kit! All aside, I finally had something resembling a rink.
The Water Woes: What I Didn’t See Coming
Once the rink was assembled, it was time to fill it up with water. And here’s where my my calculations didn’t turn out exactly as planned! —I hadn’t checked how level the ground was before starting. One end of the rink was perfectly level, but the other side dipped down by about six inches. What’s a few inches, you ask? Well, it meant that while one end of the rink had a nice, skateable couple of inches of water, the other had a small lake and didn’t freeze properly.
This caused all sorts of problems, the biggest one being that it took forever to freeze. In fact, some of the deeper areas never fully froze, turning my skating rink into more of a wading pool. We ended up with about 75% of usable ice, but it was far from the ideal skating surface I had imagined. Half of the ice on the rink started to break as well which didn’t help the situation.
The Snowstorm Showdown
If you think the battle with water was tough, enter winter weather. When it snowed or rained, the rink surface turned into a slushy mess. I hadn’t considered how crucial it was to cover the rink when not in use. After the first major snowfall, the rink became a disaster zone. The snow stuck to the ice and froze solid, making it impossible to clear. My visions of graceful skating under the stars quickly evaporated as I realized the rink was now more of an ice trap than an ice rink.
Lessons Learned (the Hard Way)
In the end, we probably got about five good uses out of the rink all winter. For the amount of work involved, it felt like a lot of effort for not much return. But hindsight is 20/20, and there are a few key lessons I’ll take with me if I ever decide to do this again (though, let’s be real, I’ll probably hire a pro next time).
1. Rink Kits Are a Lifesaver: The kit saved me from a lot of headaches, but don’t be fooled—there’s still plenty of work involved.
2. Level Ground is Your Best Friend: Make sure the entire area is as flat as possible before you start. A few inches can make a world of difference.
3. Cover Your Rink: Snow and ice are your enemies here. Come up with a way to keep the rink covered, or you’ll spend more time shoveling than skating.
4. Consider Professional Help: If I could do it again, I might just pay someone else to handle the heavy lifting.Building a skating rink in your backyard can be a fun and rewarding project, but it’s not without its challenges. While mine didn’t turn out quite as planned, it made for some great family memories—and a few laughs along the way. And if nothing else, it gave me a solid appreciation for those perfect, glossy ice rinks you see in the movies.
Next time, I think I’ll just go to the local rink 🙂