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How to Choose the Right Ice Rink Kit for Your Backyard Ice Rink
There are different types of backyard ice rink kits and choosing one that is right for you will depend on a few factors. In order to choose the right ice rink kit for your home, you need to know your budget, the location of where you plan to install your ice rink and the size of your ice rink.
Know Your Ice Rink Budget
You will need to know your budget because ice rink kits can range in price from under $50 to over $3000.
Know Where You are Building Your Ice Rink at Home
You need to know the location of where you will be building your ice rink at home. Will you be building your ice rink in your backyard or will you be building your ice rink on your tennis court? There are ice rinks with ground stakes that will need to be pounded into soil while there are some ice rinks that don’t have ground stakes and can sit on flat surfaces like tennis courts. Also, keep in mind when choosing the location of your ice rink, you need to make sure you build your ice rink on a flat, level surface near a water source.
Know If You Are Building an Outdoor Ice Rink or Building an Indoor Ice Rink at Home
You need to know if you are building an indoor ice rink at home or if you are building an outdoor ice rink at home. There are ice rinks that are meant to be built outdoors since you will need freezing temperature and you will be skating on real ice surface. While some ice rinks can be built indoors since these ice rinks are made of synthetic ice tiles. The ice rinks made of synthetic ice tiles don’t need freezing temperature so you can build your ice rink anywhere. You can build your ice rink indoors or outdoors using synthetic ice rink tiles. The best part about ice rinks made of synthetic ice tiles is that you don’t need freezing temperature and you can enjoy your ice rink all year round. Synthetic ice tiles are perfect for practicing ice hockey indoors.
Do You Plan to Build an Ice Rink at Home Every Year?
You need to know if you plan to reuse your ice rink kit and rebuild your ice rink every year or are you thinking of your ice rink as a one season project (maybe just to test it out)? Most ice rinks are reusable but you need to be aware that there are ice rink kits meant for one time use. That means when the ice thaws, you can’t reuse your ice rink and you will need a new ice rink kit.
Best Ice Rink Kits for Your Home
Below you will find recommendations for ice rinks kits for your home.
Affordable Small Backyard Ice Rink
If you are not fully committed to building a backyard ice rink and you just want an ice rink kit that is inexpensive, then you will like the Future Stars 2 in 1 Ice Rink. You can get this affordable ice rink for less than $40! The size of your Future Stars 2 in 1 Ice Rink is customizable and you can build your ice rink up to 108 square feet. A 9 ft. x 12 ft. ice skating rink or 7 ft. x 14 ft. ice hockey shooting pad. The rink size is perfect for little kids. All you need is to find a level surface in your backyard, install the pegs and tarp, fill the tarp with water, wait for the water to freeze and Voila! you have your own private ice rink at home! It’s very easy to set up your backyard ice rink with the Future Stars ice rink kit!
Affordable Large Backyard Ice Rink Kits
If you are looking to build a medium to large size rink but don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on your backyard ice rink then you will like Iron Sleek Ice Rink Kits. The Iron Sleek ice rinks comes in many sizes from the small 20 ft by 20 ft. ice rink kit to the large 40 ft. by 90 ft. ice rink. Just know that these ice rink kits are DIY ice rink kits that’s why they are reasonably priced. These DIY Iron Sleek ice rink kits comes with brackets, a liner and hardware saving you the time and guesswork needed to build an ice rink from scratch. You just need to buy the plywood separately in order to build your backyard ice rink. It sure beats building an ice rink from scratch! And it is so worth it because you will end up with a large backyard ice rink for your family to enjoy all season long!
Best Indoor Ice Rink
If you are looking to build an indoor ice rink, you can’t go wrong with Skate Anytime Synthetic Ice Rink kits. It’s so easy to build an indoor ice rink with these skateable artificial ice tiles, you simply snap the synthetic ice tiles together to immediately build your ice rink. You can build your ice rink virtually anywhere. Build your synthetic ice rink in your basement, garage, driveway, patio, deck or even a spare room! These synthetic ice tiles can be used inside or outside your home. The best part is your synthetic ice rink is not permanent so you can easily move your ice rink tiles to different locations around your house. The Skate Anytime Synthetic Ice Rink starter kit comes with 25 square feet of synthetic ice tiles. You can easily customize the size of your ice rink by adding more synthetic ice tiles to create a larger ice rink. Ice rinks made of synthetic ice tiles are perfect for ice hockey practices at home.
One Time Use Ice Rink
If you are looking for an inexpensive, one time use ice rink, then you should get the Simple Rink. The Simple Rink is so easy to build. To build your ice rink, find a flat surface, fill the Simple Rink’s giant rectangular bag with water, wait for the water to freeze then simply cut off the top to access the ice surface. It’s an easy and no fuss way to build an ice rink in your backyard. You don’t need to deal with pegs and stakes to build your backyard ice rink. The Simple Rink kit will give you a 10 ft. x 20 ft. backyard ice rink. Remember this is a single use ice skating rink that means you can’t reuse it after it thaws.
Building My First Backyard Ice Rink
I did extensive research before purchasing my first backyard ice rink kit. My kids love to ice skate but they are not ice hockey players or figure skaters. My objective for buying a backyard ice skating rink kit was to motivate my kids to get off their screens and for them to stay active during the cold, winter months. I also knew I wanted an easy to build ice rink that I can install on my own without any professional help (I’m not handy). Plus I did not want to spend a lot on our first backyard ice rink since I wasn’t sure how often my kids were actually going to ice skate this winter. I ended up narrowing down my backyard ice rink kit choices to the synthetic ice rink or Future Stars Ice Rink since they were both easy to install. I decided to build our backyard ice rink with the Future Stars Ice Rink kit so my kids can ice skate on real ice. Plus it was really inexpensive, under $40! Although, I think I will also buy a synthetic ice rink kit so we can have an indoor ice rink in the playroom for when it gets too cold outside to ice skate.
How to Build Your Backyard Ice Rink
The most important advice I can give you when building your backyard ice rink is to find a flat, level surface. It’s difficult to eyeball. I suggest using a torpedo level to help determine if the ground is level. It’s not easy to get a totally level surface, I ended up building our backyard ice rink on a slightly sloped ground. However, the good thing about the Future Stars Ice Rink kit is since the ground stakes are 6 inches high, there is room to adjust for ground slope. It was pretty easy to build the Future Stars Ice Rink on my own. The box says “No tools required.” I was able to assemble the poles and get the ground pegs into the ground by myself without any tools. I built my backyard ice skating rink on a windy day so I enlisted my daughter to help lay out the liner and to hold the liner in place so it doesn’t fly off. I also used bags of mulch and rocks as weight to hold the liner down. I filled the ice rink with water using a garden hose. It took 24 hours for the ice rink to freeze but we didn’t ice skate on it until 48 hours later just to be sure. Overall, it took me less than an hour to build the ice rink. I was impressed at how easy it was to build the ice rink without any professional help or tools! Plus you can’t beat the low price! Our new backyard ice rink has definitely motivated my kids to stay active this winter. I’m encouraged by our first backyard ice skating rink! Next year, I plan to upgrade to a larger ice rink!
DIY Zamboni for Your Backyard Ice Rink
In order to keep your backyard ice rink in tip top shape, you will need to resurface or “zamboni” your ice rink. Depending on how big your ice rink is and how often you use it, it may not be worth it to buy a backyard ice rink zamboni, but you can still resurface your ice rink with your own DIY zamboni. Your DIY zamboni consists of a snow shovel, snow scraper, a garden hose (or buckets of water), a mop and squeegee or rubber broom. It’s really easy to resurface your ice rink using our DIY zamboni method. Just add water to your ice rink using your garden hose or buckets of warm water, then use a mop, squeegee or rubber broom to smooth out the ice. If there is ice accumulation, use your shovel or snow scraper to scrape off ice accumulation by smoothing out the top layer of the ice rink. Enlist your kids to help with your DIY zamboni, it’s a lot of fun!
What to Do When Snow Falls on Backyard Ice Rink
You will get snow accumulation on your backyard ice rink. So what do you do when snow falls on your ice rink? Easy- just shovel off the snow and resurface your backyard ice rink! During our first year, we went through a nor’easter that dropped over a foot of snow on our backyard ice skating rink! I was nervous our ice rink would not survive the nor’easter! However, to my pleasant surprise, it was very easy to dig the ice rink out of the snow storm and to bring it back to its original condition. You just need to shovel off the snow that has accumulated on your backyard ice rink. The trick in making it manageable is to shovel off the snow frequently so you are not overwhelmed with a lot of snow to clear on the ice rink. Specially if you know you will get a lot of snow accumulation on the ice rink. After you shovel off the snow, smooth out your ice rink with your DIY zamboni by adding water and smoothing the top layer of ice with a squeegee or mop. Use the shovel or snow scraper to scrape off any excess snow or ice off your backyard ice rink.
Final Thoughts on Building a Backyard Ice Rink
Backyard ice skating rinks are great fun for the entire family. You can’t beat the unlimited ice time for ice hockey or figure skating practices. And it will definitely motivate your kids to stay active during the cold, winter months. Remember, the most important thing about building your backyard ice rink is to make sure you start with a level surface. And don’t forget, you need to build your backyard ice rink near a water source. Good luck with your project! Have Fun!
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