Skating rink in the country. Ice filling technology

Oddly enough, building a skating rink is not at all such a trivial task as it might seem. To equip an ice rink that will be really pleasant and safe to ride on, and at the same time not harm the place where the rink will be located, you will need to follow certain rules.

First of all, you need to choose a place. The main requirement: it should be located near a water source, because to fill even a small ice rink, it will take several cubic meters.

Skating rink on the pond

A good option is to use the nearest lake or fire reservoir as a skating rink. Preference should be given to a shallow body of water, where the ice is usually thicker. The thickness of the ice is the basis of its safety. The absence of crackling underfoot does not mean at all that its thickness is sufficient for riding. The blade of the skates has a much smaller footprint than winter shoes, so the ice of a freshwater skating rink must be at least 12 centimeters thick. If a large number of people are expected to ride, the ice surface must be at least 25 centimeters thick. It is important to make sure that this parameter is constant throughout the area of ​​the ice rink, as the thickness of the ice can be unstable on water bodies. After making sure that the ice shell is strong enough, clear the natural skating rink of snow and start skating. If the thickness is less than necessary, you can try to increase it.

For the safe movement of one person, the thickness of the ice must exceed 7 centimeters. Such an ice area must be cleared of snow and formed from it sides along the edges. After that, using a hose, preferably with a sprayer at the end, you can start pouring an additional layer of ice. It is necessary to fill in several thin layers, possibly with interruptions necessary for the water to freeze. If you immediately pour a thick layer of water, then when freezing, the ice can swell unevenly and crack. The temperature for such an operation is desirable below five degrees below zero. The atomizer is needed so that not a jet that can erode existing ice falls on the ice surface, but individual drops, which are easier to quickly turn into ice. If there is no source of water and electricity near the reservoir, you will have to take a gasoline generator with you to the reservoir, hollow out an ice hole and lower an electric pump with a hose into it.

The second problem is the flatness of the surface. For skating, it is desirable to have a perfectly smooth ice surface, which is not at all guaranteed when ice forms naturally. The easiest way to level the main irregularities is to pour a thin layer of water over the surface of the ice, which will fill all the depressions and lowlands. Unlike building up the ice, this is best done by laying the hose on the ice and moving it periodically to allow the water to flow freely, forming a single plane across the entire rink.

Skating rink next to the house

If there is no suitable lake or fire reservoir nearby, a skating rink can also be made on the surface of the earth. When choosing a place for a skating rink, you should give preference to fairly large areas larger than 10 by 10 square meters, since skating on a smaller rink will not bring pleasure. But you should not place the skating rink on top of the lawn or any perennial plantings, because under a layer of ice the plants will die from a lack of oxygen.

The construction of the skating rink begins with clearing the site from snow and forming sides around the perimeter. Since the ground under the snow is usually practically not frozen, it is best to leave the cleared area overnight to freeze the top layer. However, even after this, it is ineffective to simply start pouring water from a hose, as it will soak into the soil. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary either to cover the entire site with a layer of plastic film, or, before the main pouring process, form a thin crust of ice over the entire surface of the site, as well as its snow sides. To do this, the hose with the sprayer should be adjusted to small drops and directed upward at an angle so that during the fall the temperature of the drops decreases as much as possible and the water turns into ice before it has time to soak into the ground. After a solid crust of ice forms on the surface of the site, the process of spraying the next layers can be carried out more intensively. Each layer should not exceed a centimeter thickness, and each of these layers must be given time to freeze. At a temperature of minus five degrees, half an hour is usually enough for this, at minus ten, ten minutes is enough. The result of the work should be a layer of ice more than 5-6 centimeters thick. The upper leveling layer should not be sprayed, but poured from a hose, laying it on the ice and moving it around the rink as necessary. Thus, the water that has not had time to harden forms a single flat plane on the surface of the rink. It is important that the thickness of the leveling layer does not exceed one and a half centimeters, otherwise, when frozen, it may cease to be perfectly even.

Ice rink care

The skating rink must be cleaned of snow after each snowfall. Ice should be leveled periodically. A wet rag on a mop is best for smoothing out skate marks. Plentifully wetting a rag in a bucket of warm water, you need to wipe all the small roughness. In this case, the bucket should not be placed directly on the ice, since its warm bottom will spoil the surface. In case of serious damage to the ice, for example, after freezing rain, a leveling layer will have to be poured.

Arrangement of the rink

Due to the small daylight hours, it is advisable to install several spotlights next to the skating rink so that skating becomes possible not only during the day, but also in the evenings.

You can diversify the process of skiing with the help of ice tracks branching off from the main platform. A track one and a half to two meters wide with a turnaround area at the end or making a circle around the site and returning to the main rink will allow you to accelerate like on a large rink. A bench should be installed next to the site so that the skates can be changed right before going out on the ice.

To make the ice white, as on city skating rinks, the third, and possibly the fourth layer should be poured not with clean water, but with the addition of chalk or lime to it.

When spring comes

With the onset of heat, the skating rink will self-destruct. Unless it will be necessary to remove the plastic film if you used it as a ground waterproofing. Of course, a thick layer of the rink will melt longer than loose snow around. You can speed up the process by either manually breaking the ice, or by sprinkling a thin layer of ash on the surface of the rink, which, due to its black color, will heat up faster under the sun's rays.

Video instruction

Ice rink in the yard, at the stadium, in the sports palace, on the children's or sports ground, at the school or in the park must be an absolutely flat ice surface made of natural and / or artificial ice, with a fence around the perimeter of the territory, for skating or hockey. It can be used both for mass recreation of all comers, and for sporting events, such as figure skating or speed skating. starts with, namely rolling snow to obtain a dense base with a thickness of at least 5 cm. Ice filling technology the air temperature should be in the range of -4 / -5 ° C, otherwise the freezing of the surface will last for a whole day.

Standard sizes:
Hockey rink - 26x56 / 29x60 / 37x61 m;
Ice arena - 12x24 / 18x32 / 24x51 / 30x60 m;
Open rollers - 18x25 / 20x40 / 26x56 and more.

Preparing the base for the ice rink includes:
Marking the boundaries of the flooded area;
Compaction of the selected area for pouring ice;
Cleaning the surface of excess stones, debris, filling holes;
Fencing of the site of the future ice rink, fixed with ribs along the border, with solid boards about 23 cm wide and about 6 cm thick (instead, an earthen rampart (without slots) about 9 cm along the perimeter of the zone can also be prepared);
The device of additional free space outside the edges of the ice rink for dumping snow during cleaning, the required width of the territory is about 2 meters.

Filling ice on the rink

Pouring ice according to technology should be done in calm, clear, frosty weather, when the ground has already frozen by 5-7 centimeters, otherwise the water will go into the ground. The platform for the skating rink is filled with a fan, sprayed with a uniform jet at an angle of about 25 - 30 degrees. Thus, there will be no erosion of the surface of the base. The best solution as a tool would be a rubber hose with a sprayer (special tip) connected to the water supply. The length of the hose must not restrict access to any of the corners of the site. In the case when the filling of the rink is carried out through a fire hydrant, a rubberized fire hose is used, equipped with a barrel with a spray. Sprinkling of water occurs along a trajectory so that the smallest drops that cover the snow cover of the base fall on the surface in an even layer. The atomizer results in a uniform ice structure on the rink. Such ice filling technology, unlike a continuous jet, helps to avoid the creation of a layered "pie", which begins to crumble quickly during operation due to the formation of voids under the ice crust (this problem is especially relevant when pouring took place at temperatures below 15 ° C).

When the first layer of water is sprayed onto the base with a sprayer, there is confidence that no large puddles have formed, you can safely leave it for 2 to 3 hours to freeze, and then proceed to apply the next layer. Filling subsequent layers ice cover carried out only on the frozen previous layer. The direction of spraying is selected taking into account the direction of the wind, clockwise or counterclockwise, standing with your back to the wind. When the ice has reached a thickness of 2 cm, holes with a diameter of about 0.5 cm may begin to form on it. They are sure to be clogged with wet snow. For a complete ice rink operation in winter, the initial filling should be a layer of ice 10–15 cm thick. This parameter value is taken based on the following two factors:
The weather can prevent the daily filling of the rink;
Skates cut off about 1 - 2 centimeters of the ice layer of the rink per day.

Ice must be cleared of snow before each filling. By no means recommended fill the rink during snowfall, this results in a bumpy ice surface. Maintenance and cleaning of the rink is carried out after each snowfall. If precipitation falls abundantly for a long time, then it is advisable to clean the ice surface without waiting for the end of bad weather. Removed snow should be moved to a separate free area so that it does not reduce the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe rink. During ice rink construction in the yard, park, ice palace or stadium, be sure to consider that the winter day is very short, and artificial lighting can prolong the use of the site. Lighting installations for hockey rinks and rinks can be floodlights, pole lights or pendant lamps, depending on the type and level of the rink. The height of the lighting above the ice should be at least 5 meters. The degree of illumination of the rink can be increased by giving the ice a white color. To obtain a white color, at the stage of initial pouring, the surface is poured with a solution of chalk or lime, and after it freezes, subsequent pours are carried out with clean water.

If it is supposed to hold sports competitions or trainings in hockey, skating or figure skating at an ice rink or arena, then it is necessary to go to the ice, usually with paint in the form of blue and red lines no more than 5 cm wide. The paint freezes quickly enough, after which after 5 minutes - ten marking lines watered from a kettle. To prevent the paint from spreading on the surface, you can pre-clean the lines from snow.

Maintenance and care of the finished ice rink- a very important stage of work to maintain the facility in good condition. It must be regularly cleaned, leveled, corrected and sanded. Smoothing ice can be done with a large mop with a cloth and hot water. If pits and deep cuts have already formed on the surface due to intensive use and temperature changes, then, before the next pouring ice according to technology, it is necessary to repair the coating by kneading porridge from snow with water and placing it in holes and cuts. After freezing, the defects are eliminated with a scraper, and the filling of the rink begins.

A skating rink in the country is a great way to spend time fun and usefully. Especially if there are children in the family. The procedure for making a skating rink in the country with your own hands includes the following main steps:

• preparation for subsequent filling with water;
• fill execution;
• skating care.

Preparatory work

Do-it-yourself skating rink in the country can only be done if certain conditions are met:

• the ground should be flat, without bumps and potholes;
• the soil should freeze at least 5-7 cm deep.

Preparatory work includes:

• marking the boundaries of the future ice rink;
• it is necessary to lay a sufficient amount of snow on the ground or lawn, compact it.

Surface

The filling of the rink in the country is carried out on a surface cleared of stones. All foreign objects must be removed. Otherwise, defects may occur on the ice. They will not only interfere with riding, but will also contribute to destruction. Do-it-yourself ice skating rink in the country can be placed on a lawn or any other surface. An asphalt platform would be the best place.

In the absence of such, pouring can be carried out directly on ordinary soil. First you need to make sure that it is frozen deep enough. To do this, you can use a conventional bayonet shovel. It will be enough to remove a layer of earth with a depth of at least 7 cm. If it has time to freeze, you can start pouring.

markup

After checking the depth of soil freezing, you can start marking. Just four stones will be enough: each will mark the corner of the boundaries of the future ice rink. You can use another method: stretch the twine along the borders, spill the sand. Subsequently, all actions are performed within the designated boundaries.

How to fill the rink on an uneven surface?

How to fill the skating rink in the country, if there is no sufficiently flat surface? You can use a simple method - a snow cushion. A sufficiently large amount of snow is taken and compacted over the entire surface of the site. To implement the tamping, leveling procedure, it is best to use:

• garden roller;
• hunting skis with a wide track.

Tampering should be carried out with the highest quality. This will prevent water leakage. The thickness of such a snow cushion should be at least 10 cm. It is very important to make sufficiently high sides. Their optimum height is about 25 cm from the ground. So you don't have to worry about the liquid leaving.

A snow cushion can be considered ready if an average weight person can walk on it without falling through. As sides, you can use not only snow, but also the most ordinary boards (of sufficient height and thickness). After carrying out all the preparatory work, you can start pouring. It’s easy to figure out how to properly fill the rink in the country, but you should remember some important nuances of the procedure.

Ice rink filling temperature

The optimum temperature for applying water to the future ice rink is from -5 to -10 C. The reasons for this are as follows:

• this temperature is comfortable enough for a person;
• the liquid will not have time to freeze until a flat surface is formed on the snow cushion;
• with a large hose, the liquid will not have time to freeze inside it.

To understand how to make a skating rink even in the country, you can watch how it is made in sports complexes. There is a technique for filling. If these rules are followed, the ice field will be as smooth as possible, comfortable for adults and children to ride.

Filling steps

The filling process is as follows:

• a hose is taken, water from it should be supplied with a slight pressure;
• directing the jet upwards at an angle of 25-300, it is required to spray water in small drops over the entire surface;
• the distribution of liquid is carried out from the far corner of the site, gradually continuing to move towards the opposite;
• the jet is directed by the wind.

Ice rink filling tips

It is worth avoiding pouring liquid just like that. In this case, freezing will be uneven. The consequence is the formation of an ice crust, under which voids will be located. When, after the first “sprinkling” procedure, the snow is frozen, you can repeat the process. It is necessary to achieve the most even surface, without cavities and other flaws. Otherwise, it will be difficult to ride.

There is no need to press the end of the hose with your hands. The best solution is to use a shovel. You can simply tie it to a hose, the water flowing down it will be sprayed in drops throughout the site. If it was snowing, then you should definitely remove it from the ice surface before a new pouring stage. Each time it is worth choosing a different angle to start the procedure. So you can avoid the occurrence of hills and lowlands on the ice field.

With a sufficiently severe frost, you can complete the entire operation in just one day. If you are unlucky and the frost is not very strong, it will take several days. Thickness requires special attention. With intensive skating throughout the day, about 1 cm of ice is cut off by skates. When choosing a thickness, this point should be taken into account.

How to make colored ice on the skating rink?

If there is a need to make ice of a different color, for this it will be enough to add the following compositions to the liquid:

• chalk solution;
• bluing;
• ordinary gouache.

For marking, you can use water-based paint. It is completely safe for humans. The thickness of the lines should be made at least 5 cm.

To understand how to fill a good ice rink in the country, on the lawn, you should read the manual. After completion of the filling procedure, smoothing with hot water is performed. To do this, a liquid temperature of +500 C is taken and spilled onto the ice surface by pouring. You shouldn't spray it. Under the influence of a positive temperature, the top layer will melt a little, in order to freeze again later. This will make the surface as even as possible.

Ice rink care

After the skating rink made at the dacha with your own hands is completely ready and has passed the first successful test, it is important to level out all the bumps and chips that have appeared on it. This again requires the use of hot water. It can be served from a hose or a device specially made in advance. It is a wooden box without a bottom. Its length and width should be approximately 200 × 60 cm. A rubber gasket will need to be nailed to the bottom edges of the box. You can use a regular cut lengthwise hose. After that, a tank is installed inside with a faucet attached to it. By moving the entire structure with the help of a snowmobile, their own muscular strength, the surface is leveled. It is required to carry out the grinding procedure with intensive use of ice at least once a week.

You can use an ordinary household mop to make repairs, again wetting the ice with hot water. It is important to clean the snow. Otherwise, the surface area will gradually decrease. It is necessary to discard the snow as far as possible from the sides.

You can make a skating rink in the country with the help of various improvised means. It is required to follow the manufacturing technology, some important rules. So it will last long enough, its surface will be as smooth as possible. During dismantling, water drainage must be ensured.

New Year is a fabulous holiday, a time of gifts, good mood and children's laughter. One of my favorites is the skating rink, where you can hone your skills of balancing on skates and pirouettes for hours. We have long been accustomed to the fact that children can be taken on ice to ice sports palaces, open stadiums or, in extreme cases, ice-filled playgrounds in the yard. However, you can make a good ice rink with your own hands on your own site, if the area allows. A good help is that in winter everything is covered with snow, which means that almost the entire flat part of the garden can be a place for pouring.

Not so simple

At first glance, filling the rink with your own hands on the site is very simple - I took a hose, doused the chosen place with water and waited until it freezes. But it only seems to be. In fact, the water partially goes into the ground, and to a flat surface as to a star. And no wonder - the best ice rink is poured on asphalt. However, a good result can be achieved on the ground. It is important that it is well leveled and frozen to 5-7 cm, otherwise the water will be absorbed into it.

So, you have found a site for a skating rink. Now it's time to get down to business. The selected place must be cleared of debris in the form of building materials (if they have remained on the site since autumn) or stones. Then the snow needs to be leveled. This is done with a garden roller or skis. The main thing is that the laying is as even as possible.

The thickness of the snow layer, which you carefully compact, should be 5 cm.

Checking the readiness of the layer is easy - just walk on it in boots. Are you failing? So, we tried our best. Next, you need to build bumpers along the edge with a height of 25 cm so that water does not run away from the area intended for it. Suitable boards that can be frozen into the soil and snow, well, the snow itself and the soil. You need to get strong rollers that will serve as a reliable border of the rink and at the same time its shape.

Filling the rink

Now that the boundaries of the rink are marked and have become quite tangible, it's time, that is, to stretch the hose. Save yourself from the temptation to water the future skating rink with a direct stream - these are not summer beds for you, the result will not please you, and it will be problematic to fix it. As they say, what is written with a pen, that is, poured out of a hose ... well, it's clear here. Water should reach the surface only in the form of splashes, drops, but not in the form of a jet. This is the only way to achieve a smooth surface. In order to get the necessary fan spray instead of a jet, a nozzle is required for the hose. Sometimes especially persistent people are advised to pinch the tip of the hose with their fingers, but it is better not to do this. The authors of the idea probably have iron health and vast experience in filling the rink with their own hands. We are doing this for the first time and we want to be in a healthy state.

Still, the fingertips are a summer option for watering plants, and even then, provided that the water in the hose does not come from a well from a great depth.

Russian people are smart and inventive. Only he can guess to attach a shovel to the hose so that the water is sprayed like a fan over the site as it should be. At the same time, it is undesirable to linger with “irrigation” at one point; it is necessary to uniformly fill the area, holding the created structure at an angle of 25-30 degrees upwards.

If you still leave the hose in one place for a long time or pour water in a jet, an ice crust will form, under which water and air will accumulate. It is not surprising that such a layer will quickly crack and become unusable.

Fill rules (video)

Now about the filling itself. It must be layered. If you think that by walking once around the entire perimeter, you will achieve a result, then you are mistaken. We started from the far corner of the rink, walked to the opposite, let the layer harden well. Then they began to pour a new layer from another place so that hills would not form. The jet should always be directed into the wind. If before pouring a new layer, it must be cleaned.

So layer by layer you will fill the rink. Maybe in a day if there is a good frost, and it can take from several days to several weeks if the frost is weak. Keep in mind that one day of skiing takes away 1 cm of ice thickness, so you need to fill the rink with ice 10-15 cm thick. The final touch is to smooth the rink with hot water.

If this is your first do-it-yourself ice rink, we advise you to start by filling a small area. A skating rink with dimensions of 4x5 meters is quite suitable for not only your children, but also you yourself to enjoy skating.

Ice rink care

If the skating rink is flooded well, it will withstand several thaws. But this does not mean that you can fill it in once, you can wave your hand and leave everything as it is. Ice is a rather complex “building material”, and besides, it is not the most durable, so it is simply necessary to take care of it.

When snow falls, it will need to be removed from the rink, and not on the very side of the road, but away from the edges, otherwise some part of it will return to the surface due to the wind or other factors and the boundaries of the rink will begin to narrow.

If scratches or cracks form on the surface of the ice rink after skating or as a result of thaws, hurry to repair them with snow, to which water has been added. This mixture must be poured into a crack or scratch, rammed, allowed to harden and then poured with hot water to level.

In general, the frequency of bringing the surface of the rink in order depends on the frequency of skating on it. If you ride on weekends, then you should update the rink once a week, and if you ride daily, then, accordingly, you need to update it every day. Hot water is also used for this purpose. If it is not possible to use a hose, you can use a cunning and at the same time simple device. You should take or make a box with dimensions of 200x60 cm from boards and place a rubber gasket around the perimeter of its base. A hot water tank is placed on this box, equipped with a faucet or a hose lowered into it. When this structure moves, hot water enters the box, which has no bottom, and thanks to rubber gaskets, it is evenly distributed over the surface of the rink.

If this is difficult to do, use a mop, which can also be used to thoroughly polish the skating rink with hot water.

And decorate and decorate

If you have a desire to make a skating rink like those that are poured in ice palaces, use water-based paint diluted with water or an aqueous solution of chalk. It must be filled before the last two fills. Thanks to this method, the ice will turn white.

If you are going to play hockey, oil or water-based paint will come in handy, which should be applied to the ice before the last pour. Usually black, red or blue colors are used. The lines are usually no wider than 5 cm.

If you want to achieve uniform coloring of the entire surface of the ice, add gouache or blue to the pouring water and watch how you create something original with your own hands.

Since the winter day is short enough, and you can get carried away skiing so that you don’t notice the onset of darkness, you should take care of the lighting. Spotlights, street lamps and even garlands can be used to add color to a pleasant pastime.

Please note: options with paint and other chemicals will not work if you are going to grow something in this area in the spring!

Skating rink on the lawn - is it possible or not?

Sometimes people are interested in whether it is possible to arrange a skating rink on. Nevertheless, the lawn is usually a platform free from various things, and besides, it is almost even. However, landscape design experts categorically forbid (if I may say so) to mock the lawn. The ice layer is not snow, it will not allow the air to nourish the plants, and they can simply freeze under the ice layer. And if they don’t freeze, they will suffocate without oxygen or simply dry out in the spring, since the ice melts longer than the snow layer.

And yet, if you see no other way out, it is worth creating a snow cushion 20 cm thick, or even more, for safety net. After compacting it, you will need to create an ice crust. This will be facilitated by severe frost (below -10 degrees), which will prevent water from soaking into the snow during the first watering.

In general, now you can find a whole set for creating an ice rink, which includes a substrate, adhesive tape, waterproof glue for repairing the material, sides and a guide to creating the ice rink itself. The price for a set can fluctuate greatly, and this primarily depends on the area of ​​​​the surface to be poured.

In the spring, you will have to make sure that the ice melts as soon as possible, and the water leaves the lawn and does not soak it too much. There are several methods you can use.

1. The mechanical method is simple enough to explain, only with a caveat - do not overdo it. Remember that under this thickness a rather vulnerable lawn is hidden, and it must be preserved, not damaged.
2. Sprinkle with ash.
3. Sprinkle with urea or potassium chloride, which will simply "eat" the ice crust.
4. Melt with a gas burner - remember about the lawn and take care of it.
5. Pour with alcohol - many Russians sighed heavily at these words and pressed the bottle of bitter harder to their chest. This is nothing - abroad they generally pour wine on ice, which was recognized as defective, and they consider it a good deed. And how we would react to this, one can only guess.

If you follow the basic rules and with a certain degree of accuracy approach both filling and caring for the rink, you can give many pleasant minutes, or even hours of fun to your children and yourself. After all, having such entertainment on your site is not a luxury, but at the same time a somewhat unusual phenomenon that you can create with your own hands. You just need to make the right effort and enlist the support of the weather. We wish you a happy New Year and Christmas!

Many hockey rinks in the yards have been empty since Soviet times - no one is in a hurry to pour ice there in winter. Although the ice rink near the house is convenient: there are minimal queues and it’s not so embarrassing to fall. The initiative of the district administrations is intercepted by the townspeople: instead of inquiries and standing in the offices of officials, they buy hoses and pour ice on their own. The Village spoke with private entrepreneur Valentin Mikhailov, for whom the creation of yard skating rinks has turned from a hobby into a kind of civic position.

Valentin Mikhailov

self employed

Until 1992, our hockey team won prizes at ten Olympiads in a row: they took gold eight times, silver and bronze once. This was our game. And as in Brazil, barefoot boys play football, so in our winter in every yard everyone took skates and played hockey. For the last six years, I have been flooding ice rinks near my house - in hockey boxes and just in the yards. The first one was at 45 Novatorov Boulevard. I wanted to play hockey somewhere myself and for the children in the yard to find something to do during the holidays. My friends and I decided to develop a methodology by which the townspeople, without the help of officials, will be able to create good ice rinks.

Municipalities often flood rinks in new hockey boxes with the help of firefighters. True, after a couple of years they leave this idea. Firefighters can either bring water with them and flood the desired area, or connect a hose to a fire hydrant for you and use it to create a small lake. Both the first and second are a bad idea, since in a standard hockey box such a lake will freeze only at temperatures below -15. But if we wait for such frosts, then we will be able to flood only in mid-February, losing two and a half months.

Give way to the guy ice rink

Each ice rink must be agreed upon by concluding an agreement with the balance holder (those who are responsible for a specific territory). Although I almost always poured in a wild way, and this did not raise questions. The main thing is that the ice does not interfere with anyone.

For the skating rink, you need to choose a lighted, open place with free access and away from the road. Ideally, a platform with a slight slope so that during a thaw or rain the water immediately drains and does not destroy the surface. There is a nine-story building next to my house, and I dream of pouring a skating rink in its shade: the ice in such a place lasts three weeks longer. Although, in general, the location does not always play a major role: a few years ago we successfully filled in the ice on the heating main.

boxes are good for hockey players, but are completely optional
for an ordinary ice rink

Hockey boxes are good for hockey players, but not essential for a regular ice rink. It is difficult to remove snow on them: you can’t get there with a tractor, and it will take a long time to dump snow over a high barrier with a shovel.

local communism

You will have to start by yourself, but in the future you will need help. It happens that I come to a potential site where I have never been and don’t know anyone, and everything turns out easily, with half a turn. Before pouring, you need to hang announcements around the district: “We will make a skating rink! Need help!" - and leave a phone number. In a week, several people will call back and ask how they can help. Such people observe with interest up to a certain point, and then become involved in the process. We develop relations as in good, correct families: we take from each according to his abilities and everyone receives according to his needs. Such local communism. Whoever can remove the snow - cleans, who can help with the repair of ice - helps. If the ice is smooth and strong, people will always come and clear everything themselves. The pourer will only have to go out once a week for half an hour or an hour, iron it a little, and then the people themselves. You don't even have to persuade anyone.

Water for the skating rink

When a place is chosen and like-minded people are found, the main question is where to get water. At first, I considered the craziest options, up to drilling and searching for natural sources. But in the end, you choose whether to pour from the apartment or from the basement.

The first and most obvious option is a faucet in your apartment. You can fill the skating rink by simply connecting a hose to the water supply, but this will be problematic if you live on the fourth or fifth floor. You need a long hose, which you will have to somehow hold out, and then store it somewhere, since filling the rink once is not enough: the ice needs to be regularly updated - topped up at least once every two weeks.

As for the legality of using “drinking” water for such purposes, I can’t say anything. In theory, you may be required to put a counter. I don't see this as a problem: an average 40 by 20 meter ice rink requires 55 cubic meters of cold water for the entire season. It will cost you, according to the tariffs of a residential apartment, about two thousand rubles.

If there is an HOA, advice at home
or a commercial service company - everything is simplified

It is best to take water from the basement of the house closest to the ice rink. To do this, you need to contact the "Zhilkomservis". There you will most likely be told that you need to obtain the consent of the residents of the entrance, in the basement of which you want to install meters. When collecting signatures, you will have to work simultaneously in five or six entrances, since it is not clear in advance where success awaits (someone is constantly not at home, some apartments are rented out, someone refuses to sign because he has no children). It can take two or three weeks to make the rounds, often requiring long persuasive conversations.

If there is an HOA, a house council or a commercial service company, everything is simplified. They can make such decisions, and in most cases it is enough to agree with them.

After collecting a sufficient number of positive votes, sign an agreement with Zhilkomservis. They will install meters in the basement and give you free access to them. It is important to pay for water consumption in Zhilkomservis according to the meters on a monthly basis. If you come there in April, hoping to pay for the entire season, then no one will need your money: the overuse of water in the house will be divided among the tenants and obliged to pay them, and this will cause problems and fair discontent.

jellied block

Many people think that in order to get great ice, you need to pour a lake - throw a hose into the center of the field and sit at home watching TV, waiting for everything to spread and freeze on its own. This will not work because of the specifics of the region: our temperature is often close to zero. The water on the rink cannot freeze, a thin ice crust forms on top, and evaporation (the main cooling factor) stops. The water remaining under the crust, before it has time to freeze, will flow out of the site. And no matter what barriers you put up, she will still find a way out. As a result, cars standing near freeze to the ground, and the sidewalks become slippery - the skating rink turns out, but not where it is needed. Instead of a smooth surface, air bubbles remain - not ice, but solid lunar craters.

For a good skating rink, simple equipment and manual, uniform pouring are enough. At the end of the hose, you can put a nozzle made of a light metal-plastic pipe (about 1.5 m), bend it in the form of a stick and, imitating gardeners brandishing an electric scythe, wander around the site, “smearing” the water. The main thing is to pour it in thin layers. If the water does not have time to freeze, you will have to take 10-minute breaks (however, with long breaks, the hose may freeze). If everything is done correctly, then by the time you reach the end of the site, at the beginning the ice will already be “dry”, and you can go to a new circle. But do not continue until the previous layer is frozen. With luck, an ideal skating rink will be ready in two to three days, but in some cases (bumpy lawn, a large layer of snow) it can take up to two weeks.

Ice Care

Scratches often appear on the ice, so it needs to be repaired with a special device that resembles a mop with a towel. Swipe it over the surface - and the ice becomes mirror-clean. Usually it is enough to carry out such a procedure once a week, depending on how actively the skating rink is used. Sometimes you have to repair it every day.

Much more useful attributes will be shovels made of low-pressure plastic (HDPE is a durable polyethylene that does not prick). These tools should be in the public domain - and then there will always be someone who can remove the snow. You can secure shovels with a chain and a digital lock, the code of which people will tell each other.

self-sufficiency

To spin the skating rink, you need to install meters, buy shovels, taps, filters and hoses, pay for the work of a plumber. Usually it takes 12-13 thousand rubles, taking into account the cost of water. For the last five years, I have been investing only my own money in local ice rinks. Several times he came to the municipalities, told about his plans. First, they allocated 10 thousand, then partially compensated the cost - 6 thousand. They have money allocated for this, the main thing is to convince. It turns out that people do their job. Therefore, it is easier for them to find these 10 thousand rubles and take the ice rink to their “balance” than to make enemies.