DIY Backyard Ice Rink

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DIY Backyard Ice Rink

If you’ve got the open space in a large backyard, freezing cold temperatures, and a love for ice skating, you could make you own ice rink. Imgur user legojerry created his own with lumber and polyethylene plastic.

Using 2×4s for the perimeter, he first laid them all out to create his outline. He used 50 1″×2″×18″ stakes for stability, and 1×4s on all of the seams for added strength, inserting the screws from the inside and screwing them in flush so that they wouldn’t interfere with the liner. To correct the 5½ inch incline of his yard, he added 7/16″ oriented strand board to add height, since water self levels and since it was such a large level difference. After it is all inserted and screwed in, you can add the plastic liner. He used 6 mil 20’×45′ polyethylene plastic, but adds that a bigger liner would ensure at least a foot of excess on each side of the boards.

0 thoughts on “DIY Backyard Ice Rink

  1. Al says:

    looks great. We used to packdown the snow by walking on it and spray it with a hose. not as nice as this way, though.

  2. Morgan Demers says:

    Love it! I setup a sweet little rink in my front yard for quite a few years, until we moved to a home with no level spots ( :[ sadness ) I still have all the stuff under my deck though, someday I’ll have to rent a backhoe and get it setup again. Here is a photo of my rink the last year it was up.

    By the way, the kiddos love it! Our now 5 year old pretty much learned to skate on the thing, and our 2 year old enjoyed being spun around on the ice, and pulled on his sled – so great fun for the fam all around.

    Cheers,
    Morgan

  3. Dale Giermann Jr. says:

    I could see this being a good idea. Especially if you have a good sized garden you can just use space during the winter time for recreation.

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Cosplayer, writer, craftswoman at Ruby Fern, and co-founder of the non-profit The Geek Foundation. I love creativity and being a maker!

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