Dan Pierre's Backyard Rink - Howard's Corner of the Web

"An absolutely excellent site. I knew nothing about building a rink, other than vague memories of my dad trying to untangle frozen hoses and super 8 movies of me pushing a chair around.

Having decided to enter that Canadian dad right-of-passage of building a rink for the kids, I searched the net and found your site. I went with 2x10's and a tarp. The rink is 20 by 40 (the tarp is 30 x 50 for future 2 foot-itis relief). I started the week before Christmas, but got stuck in the thaw that lasted up to New Years. After several days of minus 20 degrees, it was usable.

My advice to anyone thinking about starting is: DO IT. A trip to the lumber yard, a tarp, some mending plates a couple boxes of screws. The kids love it, and I really enjoy the quiet times of flooding at night, (and the single malt to thaw me out after). I built a home made water spreader - 3/4 inch pvc with a Tee, two end caps and a hose adapter - the best $15 I ever spent - keeps the surface really smooth.

Learning points for me: 1) Step one is absolutely correct - flat is not the same as level. You can't say that enough times - I read it enough on your site, but thought how bad can it be? I learned.
2)Wait until the temperature will be at least -5 for several days.
3)Don't flood for more than 1/2 hour at a time, let the water freeze and build it up. I found the ice on top formed an insulator trapping water underneath, which took forever to freeze. I ended up breaking up chunks and stuffing it under a big ice sheet to displace the water and expose it. That solidified much more quickly."

Great job Dan. Thanks for the tips and pic.