Minnesota USA
January 2005
75' x 50'
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Gene writes: "My Wife and I live in Minnesota. We have an 8 yr old son who loves to play hockey and this year, we decided to build him a rink. I took a look at a few of the sites on the internet, and after reading a couple "How-To" papers, made a list of stuff and went to Home Depot. The boards are mostly .5 inch ply painted blue, (I think my 3 year old daughter picked out the color) cut to various heights to compensate for the slope of the yard. Along the back of the rink the plywood is reinforced with 2x10's and 2x8's for more structural support. A standard 90 degree triangle support keeps the walls up and the ice in. Each triangle has a 2 foot piece of rebar driven thru it angled into the board, not away. We used some 8 and 10 foot wide construction vapor barrier as a type of liner for the whole thing. After some warm spurts at the end of last year we finally got a real good stretch of very cold weather which let my wife and I really put some ice down. I saw a "wand" for sale on a few sites I had visited, so with that type of design in mind I got some plastic conduit fittings from the plumbing department, glued them together and drilled holes where the would do the most good. The rink was originaly something like 54'x78' but with a recent large snow fall it is a bit smaller now... a bit more square also. It has been fun to build, a real learning expierance to say the least. Next year, after some needed landscaping the rink should be a bit easier to get up and maintain. It certantly should not be as deep as it is this year. I think the deep end is pushing 30" or so now." Great job Gene. Thanks for the pic. |
Last Updated on Sept 1, 2005