Sticky

Did any of you have a homemade backyard ice rink when you were growing up?
Do you have one now?

I did not grow up with one but I now know that a few freinds of mine had them while growing up.

I would love to have one. I would love to take the kids out any time, let them spend as much time as they want out there. The problem is the place that we live in now does not have a backyard that is conducive to this. I still may try it anyway.

Everyday on my way home I pass through a more upscale area of town. I pass this huge house with an enormous side yard where the owner of the house has laid out a plastic (to protect hsi grass I guess) where he lays his ice. He put a net on either side and a post on either side as well that holds up a string of outdoor lights.

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Sticky The Stickman

kurty[B]

I know I'm out of place in the Canada forum, but I grew up in a small mountain town, and at the town park the neighbors around it would flood it on freezing nights, and turn a section of the baseball field into a giant homemade ice rink.

Maybe approach your local parks & rec about possibly doing this? The only problem I see them having with it is possible damage to grass (maybe), and liabilities if someone gets hurt on the ice.

Leto

ohyes. I had one for a couple of years in a row (early 2000's). Myself and my neighbour would combine our efforts. he had a narrow yard, but was able to build a very thick, flat pad good enough to curl on.

My yard is wider and what I did was to use the snow blower to clear out the middle - 25 x 40 or so - and then stomp down the rest so that I had a hard packed snow surface surrounded by snowbanks.

Then I had to run the garden hose from the basement laundry sink. This was critical because the outside faucet kept freezing. I needed to run hot water through the hose, so that it didn freeze in the hose or the sprayer. After a while it would freeze on the snow. it took about 4 nights of spraying plus 2 40 oz of scotch (Lagavulin & Talisker) for the two of us to create a decent rink.

We surrounded the rink with the Tiki lawn torches. The skating lasted for about a week before a February Thaw ruined it.

needless to say, this year's winter has not yet been cold enough to do anything.

Bossnass

I had a little rink on a pond/slough on our property, then the local village had a full sized outdoor rink that was maintained (flooded and cleared) exclusivly by local dads.

I don't have a yard right now, but my wife's aunt and uncle built their house on a man-made lake facing lot almost entirely for the back yard rink. They hold an annual shinney game with 20 odd families attending.

Leto

Never, never out of place! Just bring some beer!

eribrav

I'm lucky enough to have a huge beaver pond across the street from us, in upstate NY. We skate and play hockey every year, and it's typically ready to skate on around Christmas.

This year you could have swam in it on Christmas! Only now has a new, thin skim of ice formed on it. We need some clear, cold, windless nights to make good hard ice, but unfortunately there is snow coming this weekend.

MexicanOnABike

we had one in our backyard. it was like a little river and all we had to do is remove the weeds in the summer to get a smooth ice for the winter. the only problem is that now for some reason, they bring in the construction team to break up the ice to prevent floods. but also with the super warm years, we havent used it for a while.

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fresnelly

Beware windy days during your freeze. Wind creates ripples and a lousy surface.

I remember when I was younger that we had spell of freezing rain and the ice was thick enough that we could skate up and down our sidewalk. Our neighbours thought we were nuts.

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Blues Giselle

I always admired how their dad would put all that time into it.

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Sticky

Very many local parks have them.
I'm talking about just stepping right out into the backyard to skate.
I would be on it with my kids all the time.
Getting all the stuff together and getting the kids ready makes it a decision to go to the parks. But if I had a small rink in hte backyard and we had an hour before going to bed I would not hesitate to take the kids out.

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Leto

That reminds me! I was a paperboy for the Toronto Star (1970 - 72 hey, I even got a huge complementary glossy photo of Cornoyer and Henderson just after THE GOAL from the Star) and I had to walk from my house to deliver the collection money to the manager's house near Warden & Huntingwood in TO.

It was about a 2 mile walk, and I remember the same situation where the freezing rain was so thick, that I was able to skate on the sidewalks all the way there. Of course I had to tippy-toe across the roads...

Charlatan

When I was a kid my school always had two big rinks in the school yard. They were awesome. We could skate before school, at lunch and any time when school wasn't on.

Where I used to live in Toronto I had two excellent outdoor rinks within walking distance (Riverdale Park and Withrow Park).

As for backyard rinks, I grew up in apartments so there was never room on the balcony. But some years my brother would make a rink at my Dad's place (it was just south of Lindsay). He had a massive yard and the rink would be full of the neighbour's kids. My brother has always been like that. Now that he has his own place he makes rinks for his kids as well.

I don't think there are any rinks in my near future unless they are indoor. In Singapore outdoor ice rinks are called swimming pools.

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Demeter

My Father made a rink for us over where the garden in the backyard was. He'd even set up floodlights so we could see (being that it gets dark at 5pm).

Later on we moved out to the boonies, and we'd shovel snow off the creek & skate there. Once every week or two, we'd get Mom to take us into town to skate on a 'real' rink.

Our own yard is much smaller than the one of my childhood (or I'm bigger than I was when I was 6?) and has a large slope, so it's not good for rink-making. I haven't worn a pair of skates in ten years I bet!!

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Sticky

We got snow now I have to decide if I try it.

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Leto

you might get away with it for the rest of the week, but it will be going up to zero on Thursday with some melting. next monday/tuesday will be 1 degree and raining. I say go for it, take pictures and report back!

Sticky

OK, I am leaning toward trying.
If I do this it will be the first time for me.
Any tips?
Can anyone give me an idea of what is involved in gettingthe ice down the first time?

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Leto

Like i said in my earlier post, it's hard to keep the water flowing using the gardent hose faucet. Try running your hose from inside the house. I used my laundry sink, because I could thread the hose onto the spout, and pulled my hose through the basement window.

Then use the hot water, so that it doesn't freeze in the hose or sprayer. Where two layers of gloves/mits or just stake the hose to the ground.

Drink scotch while you spray. Nightly applications are required to build a decent layer.

The easy way is to go to Canadian Tire and buy a kit, which is like a big plastic bladder that you fill with water, and then let freeze. when Frozen, pull the plastic off the top. Leaves a smooth surface and a bottom layer of plastic to keep the ice from sinking into the grass on warm days.

Sticky

I think I will have no choice but to use the garden hose.

Perfect, I have a few bottles of single malt in the house.

That is really smart. I this way it is best to do it in advance of the cold temps.

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