Despite being thwarted by the warmest January in memory, I finally got my little backyard ice rink in place. Our house is on a standard Chicago lot, 25′X125′, and most of it is taken up by our house and garage. That said, there was enough room to squeeze in a 16′x20′ ice sheet. With the help of a February cold snap, I now have a functioning mini rink.

The rink went up in short order. Total construction time was just over three hours. I used 2×12s for the boards, and 6mm plastic for the liner. Because the rink is quite small, there’s not much pressure on the boards. I reinforced them with stakes to hold them in place, but, unlike most backyard rink builders, I didn’t need to screw the support stakes into the sideboards. That sped up construction time significantly.

I used pre-made angle brackets (the kind folks use for decks), so I just had to screw those on, join my boards with scrap wood, and drive my support stakes. Once that was in place, I just laid the liner inside and turned on the hose. By the next morning, I had ice that was solid enough for stickhandling. After another day, it could support my daughter’s weight. And, by last night, it could support both of us.

Given that we’re well into February by this point, the ice is not long for this world, but it looks like this was a successful dry run for next year’s rink.