If you build it. They will come. Family builds ice skating rink in backyard.
The Ice Skating Rink in My Backyard and How We Built It
Now you are probably wondering how could someone possibly have an ice skating rink in their backyard? Well... My dad got the idea when he was driving past an Amish farm.
He saw that they had dug a hole in the ground and filled it with water. My dad loves to build and destroy things, so he started researching how to build an ice skating rink. When he proposed the idea to my sister and I, we were both thinking how is that even possible.
So a few weeks later we went to Home Depot to buy supplies. We need plywood, stakes, staple gun, nail gun, 2x4s, and thick plastic trap that painters or construction workers usually use for projects.
About a week after our trip to Home Depot, my dad, my sister, and I started to assemble the pieces to our new ice skating rink. First, we would lay out the plywood into a rectangular shape. Next we hammered the wood stakes into the ground. We put the stakes at the end of each board so half of it is on one of the boards and the other half is on the other. Then we make sure that once the stake is in the ground, the board and stake are level. Then we take our nail gun and nail the board to the stake to keep it in place. For the corners, make sure its at 90 degrees.
Once all the stakes are in place and level, we take a flat piece of wood with a hole at the very end of it. The hole is as wide as the nail we are using to put it into the ground. We put the side of the board with no hole against the stake, and then hammer the nail into the ground. We also put these right in the middle of each board too. This is for more support. Next, we nail more boards to the stakes, but these boards are cut at an angle at each end. We put these at every stake and every board in the middle. Then we use the nail gun to nail them all together. You can see how we put up the frame in the image above.
After the frame is up, we put in the thick plastic. We slide it over the boards. Make sure to be careful because you don't want the plastic to rip. Next we flatten the plastic out very carefully and make sure the plastic is even on both sides. Once that is done, we use the staple gun to keep the plastic from falling off the side for when we start to fill it up with water.
The final step to this project is filling it up with water. While it is filling up, make sure you push down the bubbles so the plastic isn't showing when it freezes. Once it is filled, you now just have to wait for cold weather to come in.
My family has been building this every winter for about three years now. It is a lot of fun to build and skate on.
Now you are probably wondering how could someone possibly have an ice skating rink in their backyard? Well... My dad got the idea when he was driving past an Amish farm.
He saw that they had dug a hole in the ground and filled it with water. My dad loves to build and destroy things, so he started researching how to build an ice skating rink. When he proposed the idea to my sister and I, we were both thinking how is that even possible.
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| Nagle and friends standing on the ice eager to start skating. |
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| The ice rink is about 40 feet long and 17.5 feet wide. |
Once all the stakes are in place and level, we take a flat piece of wood with a hole at the very end of it. The hole is as wide as the nail we are using to put it into the ground. We put the side of the board with no hole against the stake, and then hammer the nail into the ground. We also put these right in the middle of each board too. This is for more support. Next, we nail more boards to the stakes, but these boards are cut at an angle at each end. We put these at every stake and every board in the middle. Then we use the nail gun to nail them all together. You can see how we put up the frame in the image above.
After the frame is up, we put in the thick plastic. We slide it over the boards. Make sure to be careful because you don't want the plastic to rip. Next we flatten the plastic out very carefully and make sure the plastic is even on both sides. Once that is done, we use the staple gun to keep the plastic from falling off the side for when we start to fill it up with water.
The final step to this project is filling it up with water. While it is filling up, make sure you push down the bubbles so the plastic isn't showing when it freezes. Once it is filled, you now just have to wait for cold weather to come in.
My family has been building this every winter for about three years now. It is a lot of fun to build and skate on.
--By Abby Nagle, LS News reporter
