How To Build a Backyard Ice Rink | Ask This Old House
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- čas přidán 24. 10. 2021
- In this video, Ask This Old House landscape contractor Jenn Nawada and carpenter Nathan Gilbert help a homeowner build a backyard ice rink for her kids that they can use year after year.
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Landscape expert Jenn Nawada and carpenter Nathan Gilbert help a homeowner build a backyard ice skating rink. Jenn and Nathan explain the best time of the season to build a rink and then ensure that the yard is level enough for the project. Nathan then shows Jenn and the homeowner the hardware and lumber he plans to use to build the rink so it’s level and easy to assemble and disassemble. Jenn then explains which type of plastic to use to form the base of the rink.
Skill: Easy to moderate
Cost: Varies depending on the yard
Time: 6 hours, plus filling time
Shopping list:
Landscaping string [amzn.to/3aW37nA]
Construction lumber [thd.co/3plV3oo]
Plastic sheeting [amzn.to/3n6PsQe]
Galvanized brackets [thd.co/3jn08cy]
Galvanized screws [thd.co/3G7dAuQ]
Galvanized lag screws [thd.co/3pm3zUo]
Concrete form stakes [amzn.to/3B1cYmL]
Tools:
Shovel [amzn.to/2ZbXxLm]
Hammer [amzn.to/3B3upTw]
Tape measure [amzn.to/3neZ6jI]
String line level [amzn.to/3G5gakN]
Impact driver or screw gun [amzn.to/3jkNVVG]
Where to find it?
Jenn and Nathan built the ice skating rink out of a series of 2x10”x16’ KD boards [thd.co/3plV3oo], which can be found at home centers and lumberyards. To secure the boards together, Nathan used a series of galvanized brackets [thd.co/3jn08cy], which are manufactured by Simpson Strong-Tie [www.strongtie.com/].
To hold the water in the rink, Jenn and Nathan used a 28x64’ 7mm white polyethylene from J. Freeman, Inc [www.jfreeman.com/]. Outside of New England, look for a local plastic distributor company that makes products such as boat wraps [amzn.to/3n6PsQe]. Some companies might even specify plastic for ice skating rinks.
For the details around center ice, Nathan used a piece of PVC board [thd.co/3vIbpJv] and some red PEX pipe [thd.co/2XvjNPL], which can be found at most home centers.
Expert assistance with this segment was provided by Kelstrom Landscaping, Inc. [www.kelstrom.com/]
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How To Build a Backyard Ice Rink | Ask This Old House
/ thisoldhouse - Jak na to + styl
Show us the finished rink!
Would have been nice to see what it looked like completed.
u must be new to the channel!!
n00b
Naw, that would require effort..
@@jomangeee9180 You do realize that some of the videos show the completed project
@@chrisAKAoscar he meant noob to this channel, cause like others mentioned, they always do this kind of stuff on this channel
I've been making an ice rink for half a decade now. Never thought of the PVC or plex for center line, that's a great idea. I do always add leds under the rink for an additional wow factor. Wish they would have shown the rink frozen.
I want to add led lights to mine but how would i
Would’ve been nice if you guys showed the ice rink
Idiotic
Stapling the liner is probably not the most ideal way to keep the liner in place. As you fill the rink, the weight of water can pull and tear the liner where you stapled. Also, once it's stapled you don't have the ability to move or adjust the liner. I suggest spring clamps, clamped at the top of the boards.
good idea... and I guess you can simply remove them once it freezes?
Not really if you left slack for tarp to go down 2 by and against the ground it won’t move
Stapling is fine
They addressed this point, and mentioned the need for slack in the liner to accommodate the weight of the water. I think something like a clamp could be a risk for the kids hitting it while skating, though I agree it would be easier to disassemble.
Put the snow in and wet it to save water.
You can do that, but it's basically just a drop in the bucket. Without compacting it there's more air in a pile of snow than there is water.
That being said, if you live in an area that charges you an arm and a leg for water every bit helps.
At my buddy’s house we just shoveled the snow to make berms and added water.
Concrete form stakes were a cool idea! I wish they were available in my area. Great video altogether 😊
She could of snapped y’all a pic of ice rink for end
Was it that difficult to show a finished result? It just looks lazy.
This will be great for my house in Florida!
Just build a big fridge, it’ll be fiiine
I live in Perth, Australia and we are just coming into summer.
I would most likely get fined for an illegal pool installation.
Telling the council that it is an ice skating rink would most likely just see me admitted for a psych assessment.
@@AndreasKoepkeAU Put in a concrete pad and a refrigeration system. Problem solved. You may also need a big diesel generator power it.
Cool
Have fun pulling all those staples out
I need to see what it looked like after it frozen over
Do you have a shed measuring 10’ wide and 7’ deep?
Well, that’s a great idea! I might have used 2x6 but that will be very stable. Hopefully she can get it on again this winter.
I used a 2x6 frame for years. No problem. I left a detailed top level comment.
Could have used 2 x4’s
Except they needed 11.5” of water in the low end
How much sheeting do you actually need like size wise because the Amazon link goes to a boat wrap so it's not accurate unfortunately sorry!
My mom would just wait until news it was going to be the first freeze overnight, and then flood the yard. In the morning, it was a yard with ice in it. But to us, it was an ice rink & she was a miracle worker!
💯
I have a 15 inch slope in my yard. If I tried that it would flood the neighbor's yard!
@@jptrainor nobody asked
@@thejman8734 You should build a rink. It will make you feel better.
@@thejman8734 Are you new to the internet? No one asked for your comment either... See how that works?
I just run my water hose down the neighborhood road lol it's one way that you didn't have to go to school lol
Wow, you have snow already in New England?
No after video?
What do you think of bracing rink boards to brick wall of house ? With wood 2x10 braces that run perpendicular to rink boards ?
I think that once it melts or if it leaks you risk a lot of water inside/under your house.
@@neonduck the distance from the house to the rink hasn’t changed. What has changed is that instead of wood stakes to support, I am using 2x10s running perpendicular to rink boards that are supported by house
@@thedepellegrinfamily3476 I haven’t built mine yet but I did pick up the supplies yesterday. Hopefully the concrete form stakes do a good enough job and a more secure method (like you mentioned) is overkill (fingers crossed as my soul isn’t very good). Doesn’t seem there is any additional harm to yours since you’re already fairly close to your house either way. I don’t have the space behind my house and have to go farther back but it is very sloped so we shall see what happens.
All that lumber.. showing off that 20k ice rink
Looking to build one this month with some pressure treated wood, but I’m worried about sealing the wood. Be about $950 in wood based on the height and length I want. Plan to keep up year round to use as roller hockey rink too. Should I wait till it’s warmer to be able to seal? Not sure how problematic sealing is.
I’ve been using non pressure treated for years and I leave it outside in the summer only somewhat protected from weather against the side of the garage. I’ve had no degradation. You’re using pressure treated, no need to seal it.
Hi my rink is evolved over a number of years and it’s always the hardest thing is to protect the exposed liner from skates I got some strapping strips wooden ones and got some mark down garden edging and once the ice is frozen I just toss it on top…. trouble as it’s black but when it’s really cold doesn’t matter it just sort of sits on the top and protects the liner from the skates and pucks I attach the garden edging to the slats with screws and it goes around the corner nice if I stop the wood couple feet into the corner i’ll see if I have a picture of it but if you see what I mean it’s difficult sometimes to stop the liner from getting hacked up I used to just throw the slats on the ice without the garden edging and that worked fine too just stopped at the park from slow sleeping up an hour when snow got on top of the top whole thing getting hacked up
Sorry for that last part it won’t let me edit my typing a very easily
I was just trying to say that the puck would hit the wooden slats and once it melted up a little bit during the day the wood would kind of get frozen to the surface
And at the same time the skates would hit the wood and not the liner
"You can disassemble, put it away and next season you'll be up and rolling"
*Proceeds to screw and staple everything together*
Next episode: disassemble your wooden shed for easy storage!
Screws are easier to remove than nails, and the staples are easy to pull.
Level? Right off the first scene you could see this had a big slope. No ending so we can assume the temps did not cooperate.
How do you not show how it turned out
I live in Florida and I was skeptical but I followed the directions and lo and behold there was ice 48 hours later.
You should be asking a Canadian how to do this. We start making rinks when we're three years old.
Can u post a video to show us how u do it...??? Please...
My current backyard is about 10 X 15 feet, so it's kinda pointless.
I had no idea this was a thing. Kind of interesting.
What did I miss? How does the ice form?
Why am i watching this, I have never wanted an ice skating rink. lol
U probably live in an apartment as well.
If you are only allowed to watch what you actually want then life is going to be quite shallow.
You live up north just wait until it freezes and go to your local pond and go ice skating
@@jeffreydelallo7311 Why build a pool? Just swim in a local lake or a river. Why build a fire pit? Just wait until there's a local forest fire. Why buy a TV to watch movies? Just go down to the local theater. Why build a shed? Just go rent a unit from the local storage facility.
Right? 🤪
I laughed!
Is sugar level 500 bad?
The candain in me is Excieted as hell. A friend of mine own a company that makes small zambonis for back yards
Say what?? 🤣
What’s their company name??
@@TheChupacabra It’s a joke. Remember Woodstock from Peanuts?
@@brucea550 ah dang I got excited. Didn’t remember that peanut episode
Looks like a great use of fresh water. 🤤
"The kid's are going to be SUUUPPPER PSYCHED!" Wanka!
oh cmon man I wanna see the result
The results would be as follows.... home owners wake up early int the morning to car crash. The rink got about 2 inches of water and the walls caved outwards and flooded the street turning it in to black ice.
@@mnf65 that's basically impossible...that wood and lining can easily hold the weight. There's not even much force at all being put on the lining/wood.
👍 ☺☺
Interior, ATOH editing room.
Exec: And remember, whatever you do, NEVER show the finished project at the end of the clips.
Editor: Yes, sir.
The End
Where is the water going to go in the spring? That seems like a lot of water to release in one go.
If you want to be careful, just put a pump in it with a hose into the sewer. If you want to watch something cool then just release it all at once 😁
It's not an above ground pool that bursts all at once...Ice melts over several days.
@@cup_and_cone That’s assuming that they remove the wood before it stops freezing. I think they’ll just leave the wood in until removal, so it will be a pool by the time they release it.
I drain mine by poking a small hold in the deepest corner. The water slowly drains over the course of a week or so as the ice melts and is absorbed into ground without any problem. For most yards the grading will be away from the house so the deep corner where it's draining is also away from the house.
Did you think before you typed your comment...I mean CMON MAN !!!!!!!!!!
How rude the owner never offered them a hot drink hahaha.
This old house: How to make an ice rink in your own backyard.
Me a Canadian: Watches intensively. 👀
Well, yeah. You have to make sure they're doing it right.
I tried without boards once...then wooden boards once. From then on I used 4" PVC to form the outside, propped up one side as necessary with foam and folded the tarp over and tucked underneath. Fill and freeze and you're good to go. It might not be for everybody but it has served me well year after year (although skates tend to cut the tarp making it difficult to re-use). czcams.com/video/_LiMzK5F2x8/video.html
"Disassemble" 🤣🤣 🤣
Mom plans on using the ice rink as an oversized kiddy pool come summer
Waiting for Mother Nature to make ice would have turned this into at least a week long project, I encourage the homeowner to send in some stills or video, would be nice to see what looks like an outdoor waterbed,
Jens like get me the F out of here. Smart thinking, better to leave b4 that area fills completely.
And the finished product.....
It wouldn't be of this old house video if they didn't skip showing the end product.
Doing the math:
3” min. thick ice
16’ wide (192”)
32’ long (384”)
= 221,184 cu. in.
221,184 cu. in. x 0.00433 gallons per cu. in.
= 957.5 gallons
Not near as bad as I thought. From where I live that would only cost an extra few dollars.
@@DuffyGabi so if water is 8 lbs a gallon, I hope that frame can hold 8,000lbs (but more like 16,000 lbs thanks to the deep end) of water.
@@TheChupacabra Doesn’t work that way. Majority of the weight is downward, not out (gravity is funny like that) but the outward force is distributed along the entire perimeter. They weren’t smart enough to mention you don’t fill it all at once, you do it in ‘lifts’ a couple inches at a time, so there’s never a major amount of water pushing out all at once. They also seem not to know how you need to drain it come spring. There’s a trick for that too.
@@brucea550 what's the trick?
I expect that inevitably the skates will be banging into the liner and ripping it. Better that the 2/12 boards be on the inside of the liner and draped up on the outside.
I got a new liner every year for mine. About $100. There was no way that I ever found to reliably protect it.
I agree with Jim, get a new liner every year. Mine always get cut but shovels and skates.
That was like $3k in lumber. 😂
Between that and her municipal water rate for 4000 gallons, that is one expensive piece of ice.
It sure would have been nice to see the final outcome of this project in use!
Lol , the hard part is not blowing the walls out when you fill it with a few tons of water. A square or rectangle act very differently than a circle.
I see t hey got out of there quick when the water started going in.
I haven’t watched this in a wile. It seems like a very different show than it was with Bob Vila and Norm Abrams.
You don’t fill it all at once. They may not know that.
Don't kill a chicken with a machine gun. Rake the backyard really really well in the fall. Get rid of all sticks and dead leaves. When the snow falls, make a berm all around. Stomp down the snow inside the rink. Grab your hose, set it to spray mode. Voila! Ice rink. Takes a few days though, and hours of spraying. I suppose after the first layer, you can just turn on the water and let it sit. Leveling? Water fills the lowest point first. Don't worry about it, but then again, don't try and build a flat rink on a hill! Common sense.
But that doesn’t sell CZcams videos…
Using a thick poly is WAY easier. Definitely worth the investment. I've tried both and I wouldn't go back to not using poly
I'm in Ontario Canada. It's bitter cold in winter. I used a similar process for a decade every winter. My yard has an 15 inch drop, that means about 21 inches of ice at the deepest corner. I use a laser level to set a 2x6 frame level on a set of posts then use ply to fill from the top of the frame to the ground. My posts are 2x4 with a "foot" through which a stake is driven. The deepest sides of the structure also get extra braces to help keep the sides plumb. I align construction with an impending period of bitter cold so that immediately after building the frame, and before any snowfall, I can lay a plastic sheet and flood. It takes about three days to complete the fill and freeze with night time temps near -20C (-4F). For a deep rink, frozen ground and bitter cold are essential in my experience or else it takes too long to freeze and you risk getting a snow storm mid fill which has potential to turn into a mess. The parts are all numbered so it goes together quickly next season. I don't reuse the liners. The edges are normally too beat up to make reuse feasible.
Do you need to freeze it in layers?
@@MikeKolcun Yes. A few inches at a time on an 8 ish hour cycle. That last flood might be heavier in order to help get a nice level surface, but by that time there is a lot of ice and it is stable.
Thats the least amount of ice ive ever seen in an ice rink
I like how they’re discussing things like grades and min 3” thick ice - AS IF THIS IS A NORMAL FREAKING OCCURRENCE TO BUILD AN ICE RINK IN YOUR BACKYARD. This is some next level bougie flexing.
It's not that rare and as you can see, also not that hard to do.
nah, I know of at least 2 homes in my area that do it every year, and I'm not even as far north as the people shown in the video are
Actually it IS quite normal in many places. Just because it’s not “normal” in YOUR area, doesn’t mean it isn’t a common thing elsewhere.
Ice rink?? It is still nudging the 90's in Phoenix! LOL... But the mid 80's has been nice the past two weeks!!!
Cold here in Southern Indiana!
@@armyvet8279 Whoa that's where I live
Right... Because the majority of the people who watch this channel live in Arizona. 🤔
@@StoneE4 Honestly kind of wish I did, Indianas bipolar weather has gotten annoying as I've aged, lol. One day it's 70, the next day it's 50, randomly rains all the time
You do realize this was probably filmed last year right?
As a kid I lived on a big hill. Once it froze and snowed we would make troughs and ramps down the hill and trickle water down it. It would flow down it and solidify making ultra fast lanes for flat bottomed sleds and innertubes. It was a blast except walking back to the top every time. Mine was the only usable hill in my neighborhood so my back yard was a hit with all the kids like myself. Good times, got hot chocolate??? ;)
Next time you gotta add some footage of people skating on it! Living in San Diego I can only imagine how it turned out 😂 ⛸🏒
Picture a roller rink but colder and your wheels can cut other skaters
Yup, as a fellow fair weather Californian, my first thought was "why would you do this?" 😂😂
@@questioner1596 😂
I wonder what the water bill will be to fill the rink?
How do you surface the ice? How do you reuse the "tarp" with staple holes in it? How will the screw holes in the wood be the same the next season with land shift? I miss Norm Abram....
Very unlevel, and better construction methods could have been used. But, if it holds water, and the water freezes, then I guess the objective is accomplished.
The ADR at 1:54 is rough!
An American friend said he did this every year in Buffalo, as an Aussie it was so exotic, 20% of Aussies have never seen snow and I have only seen an ice rink once. There are no natural places to ice skate in the Australia
Wow..12" thick
Waste of water
Lol, leave it to "This Old House" to make a 5 min video about screwing together some boards and then not show if the design can even "hold water"
Considering thousands of them are built every winter in Canada….I think it’s going to be just fine. 🙄
@@davidpearson3304 that's not the point. They always show harebrained projects and then rarely show how the design holds up. "This Old House" is turning into an even more useless version of all the dumb shows on HGTV instead of showing actual restoration of historical buildings. Time to stop giving tax dollars to PBS if this is the "educational" garbage they're putting out
That was petty
how to get hurt in the backyard
Water bill 📈
It's noticeable on the bill, absolutely.
That depends upon where you live. Not everyone pays through the teeth for water.
Should've used pressure treated lumber, two years it's going to rot...
Was this a joke? Considering you didn't show the completed project, I have to think this was a joke.
You must be new to TOH CZcams videos. 😛
I think you can imagine what ice looks like
This is the most American thing ever haha
Actually it’s the most Canadian thing ever.
What about finished product/result!? Booo
That’s it! ?? You just left your client
How To Massively Increase Your Medical Bills
They both trying to Copy the other dudes Tom and that plumper guy & red head bigshot.
🤮 Such a copy They must of practiced at home over and over in
Extremely poor construction!!! Did not even show it frozen. Must have failed so they skipped it.
Whatever you do don’t show the completed project! Ugh!!!
This show was lame. Not your usual good job
Seems really wasteful.
I agree. Far better to waste gas and time driving your kids to a public skating area.
@@brucea550 What a moronic response.
🥀😳 disassemble it looks permanent to me unless I can pay you guys a fee to come back and disassemble it for me 🤦🏾♂️⚡🙈🧍🏾♂️🆘😭