Great first season for me. Temps are in the 40s and 50s for the next couple weeks here in the Chicago area so that will do it for this year.
I learned so much from this site but mostly found that a successful backyard rink is really trial and error.
Earlier this winter I was reminded that a rink is just water and to relax. From that moment on I enjoyed the process of trying different flood methods and resurfacing at different times of day with the confidence that whatever I screwed up could be fixed with more H2O and cold temps.

Like so many of you I am looking ahead to next season. I'd like to make the rink longer but that would mean having a portion of the rink on a cement patio and the rest on grass. Besides the challenge of securing the boards on cement is this setup even possible? Am I being too ambitious and should just leave well enough alone? I welcome all responses to this query.

And so now I welcome warmer weather and turn my focus on to grilling season (and cutting grass in the very spot that I used to shovel).
I wish you all a great summer and look forward to reading your posts about when to start flooding again come Thanksgiving time.

Michael
"Rocco's Rink"

You can certainly put a rink on a hard surface...my entire rink is on an old tennis court. The challenge is indeed in supporting the boards. I have some old wooden brackets that keep the boards upright, but then I use sandbags and cinder blocks to keep them from pushing out.

I built a rink last year for a customer that was 100% Nicerink, and 80% of it was on his lawn and 20% of it was on his patio. We just sawzalled the spikes off the bottom of the Nicerink brackets for the patio part and used sandbags to support the boards and it worked great.