Hi all,

Just got all my material (boards, braces, tarp, etc.) together for my rink. I was planning on building/filling the rink this weekend, but now they are calling for a snowstorm tonight. I was thinking of building the rink and laying down the tarp tonight, and letting the snow fill up the tarp. Afterwards, I'll get out there with a hose and finish filling the rink.

Is that a good idea? Otherwise, I guess I'll need to wait for the snow to stop, shovel off my lawn (?!), and then lay the tarp down on the grass.

Thanks!

Hi, I was actually just going to post a question in regards to the same problem. How did it work out for you? I live in southern Ontario and have been waiting anxiously for a spur of sub freezing temps now I finally have them! So yesterday afternoon I ran out and got my tarp laid out and figured I would flood it tonight as last night we had a family xmas dinner to go to. Well I double checked today to see what the forecast is saying and now its saying were going to get dumped with 15cm of snow and it will continue to snow for the following day. The temperatures are as follows lows from -8 not including what it feels like, to highs of 0 for the next 14 days, Ive been waiting patiently since Nov. to freeze! So to add to the asked question would it be ok to flood tonight even though there calling for up to 15cm of snow?? Please can someone answer!
All the Best,

Ryan

Merry XMAS!!

You can definitely use the snow as a base for your ice. This is the 'au naturel' way of making a backyard rink as you can definitely soak the exist snow inside your tarp until it is a slush and then let it freeze. The thing you want to avoid is having a thin coat of ice over your water and then ample amounts of snow on top of that ice. The snow will push the ice down and the water up, that water will interact with the snow around your edges and make a slushy mess which will then freeze higher than the middle of the ice where there is no slush. This ends up being a royal pain in the rink. If you have existing ice, get the snow off the ice as best you can.

Kevin

If you haven't started, get the water down. The long term forecast for southern Ontario looks good. Every day for the next 14 days has highs in the negatives!! Perfect rink making weather. If it snows, get the snow off the ice otherwise it will insulated it and the ice making will slow down! I already have 4 inches of ice on my pond! Another inch or two to be safe and it's skating time!!!