Indoor Ice Skating

By Drew Mers

Moving on ice using skates can be done either in indoor tracks that are specifically built for this activity, or in outdoor tracks, which can be both man-made and naturally occurring frozen bodies of water like ponds, lakes, and rivers. Ice skating is a popular sports and recreational activity, as well as a means for travel.

There are thousands of ice skating rinks throughout the world, but for now let us center on indoor ice skating. It is noteworthy that there are many temporary ice rinks that have surfaced, but these make use of wax instead of ice, making them very difficult to skate on.

Indoor ice skating rinks has an advantage over outdoor rinks in that it is more consistent in terms of its surface, as opposed to outdoor rinks, which can have varying ice quality. Indoor conditions can be set and controlled, like for example, keeping the skating surface at 24 to 26 degrees Fahrenheit, and the humidity at around 30 percent. It also permits adjustment in periods of warm outdoors, in order to adjust in turn the quality of the ice. Indoor ice skating rinks have dehumidifiers in the building to attain a low humidity and keep the air dry, as high humidity creates fogs over the ice.

As already mentioned, ice skating was used in order to get across frozen waterways in Europe thousands of years ago. In the early 1900s, however, modern ice rinks became very popular, thanks to brothers Lester and Joe Patrick, who started hockey leagues in Canada. The first ever indoor ice skating rink to be opened was in Victoria, Canada, an initiative of the two brothers, and this was then cost a little more than $100,000, with a capacity of 4,000 people. Vancouver, Canada saw another ice skating rink days after, doubling the cost of the previous rink, but was able to seat 10,000 people. The brothers then started building ice skating arenas also in the United States and western Canada, and to date, the U.S. has more than 1,700 ice skating rinks, and cost millions of dollars to built, in contrast to the hundred thousand dollar arena in Victoria.

Indoor ice skating rinks work pretty much like air conditioning units and refrigerators. Underneath these rinks are enormous refrigeration and ice-making systems that maintain the ice surface all year round. The refrigerant in this system cools brinewater which is actually a calcium chloride solution, and which is then pumped through pipes embedded underneath the rink. Because good ice is attained through controlling both indoor and outdoor temperatures, there can be great variations during temperature changes, even with just a one-degree change. In countries with warm weather, there is a possibility for the ice to soften, while in the low temperature countries, skating rinks need to be heated still to maintain good ice.


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How to Build Your Own Ice Skating Rink

By [ Shawn Parker

This idea stemmed from years of growing up near a creek. There was a run off of water that was only inches deep and made a pretty good size skating area for the neighborhood kids to play without the worry of breaking ice dangers. Although you can now purchase kits to build your own rink, this is not only more cost effective but also gives the opportunity for the family to work together on the project.

We built our rink 24' by 24' which proved to be plenty of room to get around, but did not take up the whole yard. You may choose to go larger or smaller depending on your needs. The first step will be purchasing the materials and getting together the tools we will need to put this idea together. My material list will include a trip to the local lumber yard for 8 2x6x12, treated a 36x36 sheet of heavy plastic (you can find reinforced plastic as well), 4 1x1x12's treated, and 1 ½"aluminum nails. The tools we need include a staple gun with ½" staples, I prefer my Bosch Miter Saw and Bosch Miter Saw Stand, hammer and mallet, and a square, and your garden hose. Again this can be downsized or made larger per your family's needs.

Make sure the spot you have picked out to build this backyard entertainment center is level and free of rocks with preferably a nice bed of grass. The tools needed are minimal so I set up my Bosch Miter Saw Stand and my Bosch saw and begin cutting my 1x1's into 12 1' sections. These 1' sections are then angled 90 degree on one side on what will be the bottom of our support stakes. After our cuts are made and stakes are finished we simply lay the 12' 2x6's down one at a time and nail the stakes on the outside making level with top of 2x6 and placing every two feet, the angled end will be going into the ground so the flat top of stake should be level.

When you're done with all of the side boards with the attached stakes, you're now going to need a couple more hands for the next step so gather up some more family members and let's go. With three of you holding the board you will start on one end of the first board and set in on the ground in your designated location and hammer the stakes into the ground until all stakes are 6" into the ground and your 2x6 is exposed. You will then repeat the process butting the second board up against the first and putting your square in the corner just to make sure we end up with a square and not a diamond rink, although that would probably be an interesting design. Hammering the stakes into the ground and repeating the last step again on the other 2x6 forming your square. Our next step with be to lay our plastic out over our square with inches also hanging over. With help from the family go around and even up the plastic every side should have 6" to cover inside 2x6 and 6" for the outside of the 2x6. Once this is complete you will use your Bosch staple gun to attach the plastic to the 2x6 on the outside only and make sure the staples are sunk and not sticking up for they could cause injury.

Your final step in this process is to get your garden hose out of storage and fill you ice rink with 4 inches of water leaving a 2 inch space to the top of the 2x6. Make sure you put your hose away as to ruin it and then give your project a couple of days to freeze if needed, depending on where you live. When frozen put on the ice skates and have fun.

Shawn has been writing articles online for nearly 4 years now.
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Backyard Ice Rinks

The cold of our winter has finally migrated elsewhere and spring has finally arrived!
Usually this would be great news for most people but to our family and for other backyard ice rink lovers such as us, this news means we had to watch our ice thaw out and melt! We now have to disassemble our backyard rink and nothing saddens us most!

Our family truly looks forward to putting up the rink when the temperature drops dramatically in the late fall and we are really don't look forward to the end of the winter season. Once again, this past winter season our family had lots of fun playing outdoors on our backyard ice rink. We spent many pleasurable hours skating and playing backyard hockey with our neighbors, friends and other members of our family. That is all over now!

...BUT, there is always light at the end of a tunnel and we are now planning on our rink for next season. Every year, I make a little (or big) addition to our rink that surprises our kids and makes it more fun for everyone. Last year, I added ice paint and team logos to our ice surface making it resemble like an NHL rink surface! The year before, I added extra lights to better illuminate the backyard ice rink. Next season, I am planning to make my rink bigger...

For those wanting to build your own backyard rink, now would be the perfect time to start planning. There are many things to consider and many questions to answer if you want to successfully build your own rink.
    * What size will my rink be? What shape will it have?
    * Will I use a plastic rink liner to make ice? OR will I just pack snow to make ice (if you don't mind offering a time and labor to make ice and for maintenance)?
    * Will I need boards? What materials will I need?
    * Do I have a limited budget? Will I build my rink myself?
    * Do I have a larger budget and someone else will build my ice rink? Will Mother Nature freeze the ice or will my rink be refrigerated?
    * Is my backyard too sloped and do I have to level it prior to installing my rink?
    * When do I put up my rink? What temperatures are adequate in order to build an outdoor skating rink?
    * How do I resurface my ice and what tools are required for rink resurfacing?

There are many questions that need to be answered.
Please take time to figure the type of rink you need an answer these questions before you attempt to build your own ice rink. It will make the project much easier and fun. Having a rink in your backyard is definitely a rewarding experience for the entire family and if properly planned in advance the project of making your own rink will be a rewarding and successful experience as well.

For more information, instruction and advice of how to build your own backyard ice skating rink visit my page on how to build your own Backyard Rink
John is the founder of mybackyardicerink.com, a web site that is entirely devoted to backyard rinks and offers information, tips, advice and recommendations on how to build your own backyard hockey rink and backyard ice skating rink.


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