Water coming up from underneath the slab

[kd_special]

First can someone give me the link to the page on the site where you talk about how to take part your rink properly and when in the season to do so so you don't kill your grass. I hate it but its getting warmer in my area. For example the next two weeks I'm only hitting a low of zero or 1 degree during the daytime. Not so great for ice unfortunately. And since my kids are young the can't take advantage of night time skating yet. 4 yrs olds.

But also I am wounding about one corner in my rink which has been spewing water on top of the ice during the daytime. For example if I walk over to that corner My weight can push the water up from underneath the slab to on top of the ice. I don't have this problem in any other area. And at night time its a non issue as it freezes solid.

The corner is right close to my Low Point. (the deepest water 10" plus). I honestly think that my boards are not able to hold the water in. As i have seen them drift outwards a lot with the recent Thaw freeze thaw freeze weather. I bought some more steaks to drive into the ground to help hold the boards up stronger in this area. But i haven't installed them yet. I am assuming this is the problem but thought I should ask. When my rink started the boards were straight up and now that area is leaning pretty good. I thought I could get away with doing nothing this year and do a better job next year but is propping up the boards a bit more will help I will do so. Because theres still a bit of skating left for us here. When the kids are out during the daytime I just tell them to stay away from the corner.

thanks in advance for your help
kd

[kevmac]

Not sure if there is a dedicated page to dismantling your rink however your grass will be fine underneath the liner until all the ice is gone. Once your ice is completely gone, remove your liner and start dismantling your rink. My rink is usually never dismantled completely until well into April - possibly May depending on the amount of snow on the ground as I wait until the ground is thaw and dry. Remember that grass is basically a weed and is pretty resilient when it comes to growing.

As for your corner, it sounds like your rink is not completely frozen all the way through. Water will always find the lowest spot if there is a possible path; it's a feature of gravity's effect on the liquid. During the warm days, the sides of your ice slab are probably melting between the ice and the boards thus allowing the water a place to go when you stand on the ice. I would imagine in the colder evenings, the top layer of water is freezing thus creating a barrier for the water.

Are your boards leaning in or leaning out? I know I have a couple of boards that bowed out at the bottom so they are leaning in. Also, the thawing & quick freezing that occurred during January caused some of my puckboards to bow out on the top ending up popping the screws - oh well, they'll make some nice firewood in the spring.

[kd_special]

Thanks for the info. I thought I saw a post about it at some point. But perhaps I was wrong The info you provided is perfect though.

My boards on that side are leaning out. Yeah that part of my slab won't freeze solid. But I bet the boards moving out aren't helping.

Thanks for your help
Kd

[kevmac]

Maybe you were thinking of this forum post:

[kevmac]

kd - I also found this blog post from Joe that you might find helpful:

Cheers
Kevin

[Matt]

i usually take my rink apart a few days before easter weekend. the last few years the grass underneath my liner is greener and starts growing faster than the rest of my yard. i think the sun beating down on the water warms up the ground underneath it and it starts going. unless your liner is black it shouldn't kill your grass, there is still a bit of light getting to it...