A good ice rink in the yard, how to fill the ice rink in the yard with your own hands, what kind of water the ice rink is filled in, how to properly fill the ice rink on the street, useful tips
It is difficult to name a more favorite form of winter recreation than skiing or ice skating. And if the pleasure of skiing depends entirely on the capricious nature - you only have to dream about them in snowless winters, then it’s quite possible to equip the ice rink at the cottage yourself. Although at first glance the task seems extremely simple, knowledge of how to properly fill the rink is still required. High-quality filling of the rink - akin to art, carelessly poured water from a hose, freezing, leads to the formation of an uneven surface.
Content
- How to fill the rink with your own hands video
- At what temperature is the rink poured, the filling procedure video
- How to fill the skating rink in the courtyard of the house - phased work video
- Basic rules for caring for the roller
- Decorate the rink video
- Rules for filling the lawn roller
How to fill the rink with your own hands
The key to success is the right choice of site. It should be smooth, ideal - fill the asphalt base. However, a good result can also be obtained by pouring a flat dirt platform. You can start work if the soil is frozen to a depth of 6-8 cm, otherwise there is a risk that the water will gradually soak into the snow.
The selected site should be cleaned of debris, the snow on it should be leveled. Then you can start ramming it with a garden skating rink or skis. The thickness of the snow pillow in the finished form should be at least 5 cm. The prepared surface should not fall through when walking on it. For the sides, you can use frozen boards about 25 cm wide, but you can build them from the same snow and compact them well.
At what temperature is the rink poured, the filling procedure
The skating rink should be filled at an air temperature below -5 degrees C, and even better -10. You can pour water from the hose by putting a spray gun on its end. The water jet should not be directed to the ground, but upward, at an angle of 25 degrees. In this case, the water will not flow, but sprayed and fall to the surface with small splashes. It is necessary to ensure that the hose does not remain in one place for a long time. By following these recommendations, it is easy to obtain a smooth ice surface.
If you pour water from the hose with a stream or leave the hose for a long time on the site, then at very low temperatures, accumulated liquid will remain under the ice crust frozen on top and voids will form. The top layer in this case is very cracked and deformed.
How to fill the skating rink in the courtyard of the house - phased work
It is better to start filling the site from a remote angle, moving diagonally. The direction of water spray should match the direction of the wind. Bay a thin layer should wait until it completely hardens. Filling the site each time starts from a different angle - in this case, it will be possible to avoid the formation of hills. If it snows in between layers, then it should be removed from the site before each new portion of water.
The rink should be poured in layers, in stages. If the frost is strong enough, then you can cope with the work for one day. If the air temperature is not low enough, the process will drag on for several days.
Given the fact that in one day of operation of the ice rink, the ice thickness on it becomes less than 1 cm, it is desirable to freeze a layer of at least 15 cm. At the final stage, ice is smoothed using hot water.
If there is not enough experience and knowledge on how to fill the ice rink in the country, then it is recommended to first make a small ice platform, for example 5x4 m - this will be quite enough for children's games.
Basic rules for caring for the roller
In order to enjoy skating throughout the winter, you should know not only how to fill the rink, but also remember that you need to take care of it.
If the skating rink is filled in correctly, then several short thaws will not damage it. Caring for the ice rink will consist in clearing it of snow after each snowfall. Snow should be removed outside the rink's sides - otherwise its area will become less and less.
To close up the scratches or potholes formed on the ice surface, they use snow-water slurry - they ram it into the recesses, when it hardens - they are trimmed and filled with water.
Depending on the frequency of use of the roller, its surface should be leveled and ground, with frequent use of the roller - daily. To restore the surface, it is watered with hot water. If it is impossible to organize the supply of hot water from the hose, then you can build a special home-made device for this: knock down a box about 200x60 cm in size, attach a rubber gasket around its perimeter, you can use a hose cut along the length.
Install a tank with a faucet on top of the box. You can use a snowmobile or your own forces to move the box around the site. After filling the tank with hot water, the faucet is opened, and the box begins to move along the site.
Thanks to the rubber gaskets, the water entering the box will evenly spread over the entire ice surface. You can also polish ice manually using a mop dipped in hot water.
Decorate the rink
You can give your rink an original look by using a solution of chalk, water-based paint or lime. They are applied before pouring the last two layers. If games are planned at the rink, for example, hockey, then additional marking of the site will be required. To do this, before the last pouring, a layer of black, red or blue water-based paint is applied along the marked lines. The line width must be at least 50 mm. The rink will add unusualness to adding to the water to fill the last layer of bright dye, for example blue or gouache.
You should also take care of the illumination of the site - because in winter the days are very short. As lighting fixtures, garden lights, searchlights can be used; the most enjoyable is the riding process, bright garlands hanging around the rim of the rink.
Rules for filling the lawn roller
Actually, landscape design specialists do not recommend filling the rink on the lawn: grass under the ice can freeze, suffocate without sufficient oxygen, or just vypret during ice melting. But if you do everything with safety net, you can try to fill the rink on the lawn. First, a snow pillow with a minimum thickness of 20 cm should be built. Then it is compacted, filled with water so that a thin crust of ice forms. Work should be carried out at a temperature not exceeding -10 degrees C - water should in no case be absorbed into the snow. Next, the filling is performed in accordance with the above rules.
With the onset of spring thaws, it is important to take care of accelerating the melting of the ice. To do this, you can use the mechanical method, but break the ice very carefully, otherwise you can damage the lawn. A good result can be obtained by filling the ice surface with ash or mineral fertilizers (potassium chloride or urea) - their granules will make the ice surface loose. You can also use a gas burner or pour the surface with an alcohol-containing liquid, in Germany, rejected wines are used for this purpose.
When constructing the skating rink on a suburban area, you can use special kits consisting of a ready-made substrate, beams, mounting materials and instructions.
