How To Make Your Backyard Ice Rink Easy

If your family loves winter sports, you may have considered building an ice rink in your own backyard instead of loading up the van and heading for the local arena. With a kit you can quickly and easily set one up in your backyard without resorting to lumber or discovering that you lent out all the tools you need to do the job. There are dozens of sizes available, so there is sure to be one that will fit your lawn. Your whole family will be thrilled when they see the beautiful outdoor rink you put together in less than two hours. Ideally you should get a kit from a company that stocks all the accessories, such as pond hockey nets and hockey stick holders. It is important to pick the right size for your needs, from a small skating practice area to a full backyard hockey arena.

Be sure to get a kit that includes everything and avoid a trip to the hardware store by going to a company that delivers. Look for a kit that uses polypropylene, which won’t break in the cold like rigid PVC, and caps to protect the liner from shovels and skates. While some liners can be as thick as 8 mils, they still won’t hold up to a sharp skate blade. The most effective liners are 4 to 6 mils, and for beginner builders, a mil means one-thousandth of an inch. Sunlight can deteriorate a liner and it is important to use a UV-protected liner and to store the liner someplace dark like the garage or the basement once spring comes around.

A homemade installation can easily damage your yard, which is where a liner comes in. The liner should be of durable construction and ideally it should be made from stretchy polyethylene. This way you can store your kit in the spring without any permanent mauling to your backyard. With the right accessories, you can be sure to always have smooth, professional ice, and you won’t have to worry about bumps, ridges or water bubbles. A terry cloth spreader can distribute water evenly and easily when combined with a flow-controlled feeder to create arena quality ice.

Companies like RinkMaster offer ice resurfacers that will lend the ice in your backyard that arena feel with their kits. With proper care, a quality liner can be used the next year, although RinkMaster recommends either replacing them each year or carefully patching up every slice in last year’s liner. Water will pour through every slice in a liner and create shells, where air gets underneath the frozen surface and the ice collapses when weight is applied. You can teach your younger children how to skate at home or host neighbourhood hockey tournaments. Winter doesn’t have to be a time to hibernate and you can keep your children active and outdoors even in the snowy months. Without having to use tools or plywood you can build a RinkMaster ice rink this winter that you can reuse the next year. Skating is a Canadian tradition, and you can make it easy to teach your children and have fun with home only steps away. With the right kit, you can say goodbye to cabin fever and just get skating in no time.

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