How to Build a Backyard Ice Rink (Read Before Committing)

Key Takeaways

• Building a backyard ice rink involves five key steps: choosing your site, building the walls, reinforcing the structure, placing the liner, and filling the rink.

• Success depends heavily on your preparation, build quality, yard slope, consistent sub-freezing temperatures, and proper bracing to prevent costly blowouts.

• While some small DIY rinks can be built for under a thousand dollars, most families significantly underestimate the time, effort, and ongoing maintenance required before they commit to the project.

Many aspiring ODR enthusiasts want to explore how to build a backyard ice rink.

Building a DIY rink from scratch is a worthwhile endeavor for some aspiring rink owners, especially those handy individuals looking for a home project to work on.

However, you must know what you’re getting yourself into before committing the time and money to such a major project. 

We manufacture NHL-licensed backyard ice rink kits, and we’ve heard a fair number of success stories from those who built a DIY rink (and seen some impressive ones, too). 

We’ve also heard many stories of frustration, with families seeing their time and investment melt away alongside an unsuccessful rink attempt.

We will use our industry expertise today to provide detailed steps, analysis, and recommendations for building an outdoor rink, so you can feel confident you have the information you need to make an informed decision. 

How to Build an Outdoor Ice Rink (Step-by-Step)

Before bringing out the tools, you must ensure your yard is appropriate for a rink in the first place.

Important: As a rule of thumb, for an outdoor rink, you should live in a region where the high temperature is well below freezing for at least three consecutive days each winter.

If you don’t, it’s probably best to move on from your ODR dreams. If you still have a hockey itch, you could buy a street hockey rink.

Ideally, the area in your yard where you place the rink should have no more than 10 in of slope in any direction. We’ll cover this in more detail in Step 1 below. 

Finally, most septic professionals advise against setting up your backyard rink over a septic system or leach field.

Here’s a short video from YardRink CEO Brian Packard, where he discusses with a landscaping professional what to consider when deciding whether your yard is fit for a rink (as well as how to measure your slope): 

If you’ve passed the pre-rink qualifying tests above, then let’s move on to the building steps.

Note: The tools required for the following steps may include a measuring tape, table/circular saw, hammer/sledgehammer, drill, screwdriver, safety goggles, and gloves (among others). 

Common backyard rink terminology that will be used throughout the post:

• “Board” or “Panel”: individual sections of the walls used to contain the rink

• “Liner” or “Tarp”: plastic sheeting placed inside or outside the walls to contain the rink water 

• “Stake”: Length of rebar or other rigid material driven into the ground to provide wall reinforcement

• ‘Bracket”: Metal or other fastener used to attach one board to another and/or to the ground, often in conjunction with a stake 

• “ODR”: Outdoor rink

• “DIY”: Do-it-yourself 

1. Choose Your Site/Create Your Design

Your first step is to choose a spot for your rink and create the design. This is a crucial one. 

• First, you need to find a spot that is flat or mostly level in the largest available area of your yard. Grass, dirt with no sharp rocks or debris, pavement and sports courts are generally OK to assemble on.

• We already mentioned that you should aim for no more than 10 inches of slope in any direction. Too much slope means you’ll have one end with very deep water/ice and one end with barely any coverage. This can affect ice quality, freezing time, and overall playability.

Pro tip: If your yard slope is greater than 10 inches, you can still consider building a rink. However, you will need to build your boards higher and add substantial bracing on the deep end. This requires more effort and is risky, given the water pressure that builds up at the deep end. The chances of a catastrophic blowout may increase if your rink is deep and not appropriately reinforced.

Pro tip: Almost everybody underestimates their slope. To get an accurate measurement of your slope, you can use a laser level or a simple manual measurement method (see the video in the last section).

Here’s more context from YardRink’s CEO on the underestimation of slope, and how you can still manage it depending on which rink you choose:

• The amount of shade in your yard. A shady yard can help your ice stay frozen longer, but it might also mean dealing with extra leaves, pine needles, and debris. Ask any ODR owner who’s dealt with constant debris on the rink surface: it’s a headache. Typically, rink owners wait until most of the leaves and pine needles have fallen in late fall/early winter before assembling their rink.  

Choosing a site goes hand-in-hand with sketching out what your rink will look like in your yard.

Be aware, this can be a tedious process, especially for those who are new to the rink building game.

Here’s one example of a DIY rink plan – courtesy of Mama. Pappa. Bubba.

You’ll need to accurately plan for the exact materials needed and calculate the precise dimensions of the size you want your rink to be. 

If you don’t get this part right, it could lead to issues such as running short on materials (or buying too many materials), misaligned boards or a liner that doesn't fit properly after the building process.

Once you buy the materials, make sure to label each component before assembling. 

You can do this through color coding or a numbering system (e.g., Side B - Board 1). Ensure all hardware is bagged and labeled correctly. This can be tedious, but you’ll thank yourself every skating season after the first build. Nobody wants to re-drill hundreds of pilot holes every year.

Pro tip: Take your time and be thorough when planning for your DIY rink. If you don’t have a sound plan in place, you may end up with a subpar/unsafe rink or a wasted effort altogether.  Many rink kits are purchased from the major manufacturers by people who have tried and failed (often multiple times) to build a DIY rink from scratch.

2. Build the Walls

Once you’ve chosen your site, it’s time to build the walls of your rink, which you can think of as the backbone of the structure. 

The walls are what define the shape of your rink (most DIY rinks are made in a rectangular shape; more ambitious owners may try to round the corners somewhat with small straight sections). The wall’s job is to hold the water in place and prevent blowouts. 

For framing, lumber is commonly used. 2x10s are a popular option for DIY rinks, but you may also use 2x4s, 2x8s, 2x12s, or plywood (likely the most versatile, ripped to the height of your choice), depending on your design. Some DIY rink owners use prefabricated hockey rink boards – found at places like D1 Backyard Rinks – for a more polished and reliable setup. 

You can source the boards from your local hardware store. Expect to spend $200-$500 on boards, depending on the quality of lumber and dimensions of your rink. 

For example, 2x12s at a Home Depot in MA cost $23.55 for an 8 ft length. A 24 ft x 48 ft rink with a 12 in height would cost $424 for the boards alone, assuming no scrap. If you need to rent a vehicle to transfer the materials, this could lead to extra costs. 

How to: To install the walls, start by laying out your boards along the perimeter of your rink according to your design plan. Square everything up before making it permanent. Measure corner to corner on one side and do it again on the other side. Those measurements will be identical if your corners are square and the side/end walls are equal to those on the opposing side. Secure each board to its adjacent boards with brackets, and use stakes, rebar or posts driven into the ground (more on bracing in the next section) to support the structure. Make sure boards are aligned and perpendicular to the ground before fastening. 

Photo courtesy of How To Hockey. 

The bigger and more elaborate your rink is, the more effort it will take to build the walls.

The key to building the walls is to construct them high enough to account for low spots in your yard. This ensures that the water stays contained across the entire rink. Once you have your slope measured, you should know exactly how high you need to build the boards. 

For example, if you have a slope of 8 in, desire a minimum ice thickness of 4 in and seek at least 10 in of wall exposed above the ice, then you will need boards that are 22 in high in your deep end (8 + 4 + 10) and 14 in at your shallow end (4 +10). 

Pro tip: 80% of hockey is played within three feet of the boards, making them an essential part of any rink for serious hockey training. A simple rectangular DIY rink without rounded corners won’t offer the same puck movement needed for skills enhancement (especially for puck retrieval, board passing, and rimming behind the net) that a professional-grade rink kit offers. 

One of the most common causes of blowouts is poorly-built walls. This is why properly bracing or supporting your rink is critical to a safe and stable rink. We’ll touch on this more in the next section.

3. Reinforce Your Rink

In the “How to” portion of the last section, we mentioned securing each board using brackets, stakes, rebar, or another support mechanism (e.g., you can use 2x4s to build your own support, but it will take longer).

This is a key step when building a backyard rink, particularly the deep end if you’re working with a slope. You may also need to account for additional bracing at the corners. The more support you have for your rink, the better. 

You want to go with the support that works best with your materials. Stakes and brackets, which can be bought at places like Iron Sleek, are commonly used for bracing, so let’s cover those in more detail:

• Stakes: Driven into the ground along the outside of the boards, these are your most basic and affordable form of support. Stakes cost from $1.50 to $11 each, depending on quality and material.  A 24 ft x 48 ft rink has a perimeter of 144 ft, so if you placed a stake every 4 ft, you would need 36 stakes, which would cost in the range of $50 - $400.

• Brackets: Brackets are another common option for rink builders because they're purpose-built to lock boards in place with minimal movement. Brackets will cost you about $50 - $200. Note, brackets can present a tripping hazard since they stick out along the base of the boards, as seen below.

Photo courtesy of My Backyard Rink.

How to: Start by driving stakes into the ground along the outside of your boards, spacing them every 2–4 ft around the full perimeter. Work your way around the rink, then go back and add extra stakes or brackets at the corners and along the deep end. Give everything a firm check before moving on. Push on the boards, test the corners, and make sure nothing shifts. If something feels loose now, it will be a problem later.

Pro tip: Under-bracing is a common problem when building a backyard rink. When in doubt, over-brace. Adding extra stakes or brackets will cost more, but it’s better than dealing with a blowout mid-winter, draining water, repairing boards, and re-flooding, which costs you much more in time and frustration.

It can’t be overstated how important building a solid perimeter with appropriate bracing is for the durability and safety of your rink. 

If you underestimate your slope, mismeasure or underbrace during this process, it could lead to deformed walls and bowed/blown out boards:

Photo courtesy of human cannonball on Reddit.

4. Place the Liner

Once the walls are built and reinforced, you’re on to the liner. 

It’s important to go with a heavy-duty liner, ideally a white polyethylene-based plastic sheet that’s at least  6 mil (1 mil is a thousandth of an inch) or .15 mm thick. You can find rink liners from companies like Blue Lake Plastics or on Amazon. They will cost you about $50-$400 (or sometimes quite a bit more), depending on the quality and the size you choose.  Premium quality tarps are often multi-layered with rip-stop weaving.

Here are some options from Amazon with pricing:

When choosing the liner, go with a size that’s about 4-6 ft larger than your rink. This allows the liner to go up and around the boards and prevents water loss. 

Pro tip: Wait until you get freezing temperatures before laying out the liner to avoid damage from debris, animals walking across it, etc. 

How to: Before starting, use a rake to clear the rink area of any sticks, rocks, or debris that could puncture the plastic. Once the surface is clean, carefully unfold the liner across the inside of the walls. Make sure the liner overlap is the same on all sides, and it is tucked flush to the ground and the inside of the boards. Try to get rid of any wrinkles in the liner. DO NOT permanently staple the liner until you’re ready to fill the rink, and never staple below the anticipated rink water line. Use clamps to temporarily hold the liner while you fill the rink. We’ll cover the filling part in our next step. 

The liner is one of the most essential parts of a backyard ice rink, and also one of the most frustrating. 

It’s common to see issues such as holes in the liner, rips caused by shifting during freeze/thaw cycles, bunching, bubbles, or wrinkles under the ice, and exposed edges that get damaged by skates, sticks, shovels, and wind. 

Most DIY rink owners will need to invest in liner clips or foam bumper caps (‘noodles’) to secure the liner to the top of the boards and prevent the liner from ripping or flapping in the wind. Others will cut the tarp at the ice line once the rink is frozen. This can cause problems when adding water layers to the rink surface,

Pro tip: The liner (or tarp) almost always sits inside the walls on a DIY rink, which exposes it to tears. It also inhibits great puck wall play and prevents shoveling/snowplowing right up to the boards.  To address this problem, YardRink custom-made our three-layer, rip-stop tarp to go outside of the panels (pictured below) so it stays out of the way of pucks, sticks, skates or shovels. In a 2026 YardRink Owner Experience Survey, the tarp being on the outside of the rink was the single biggest influence on why the respondents chose YardRink over other brands. If constructing a DIY rink, keep the location of the liner/tarp top of mind when planning your setup. It’s critical for the playability and maintenance of your rink. 

For DIY rink builders, go with a high-quality liner and make sure it is installed correctly. You don’t want the liner to be exposed to skates, sticks, or shovels along the boards, as this is where most punctures and wear occur.

5. Fill the Rink

You’ve got the liner in place; now it’s time to fill the rink.

There are multiple ways to fill a rink, but the weather should be below freezing for at least 3 consecutive days before you fill.

If you fill it too early, you may get inconsistent or uneven ice because of freeze/thaw cycles. And, leaves and pine needles may sink to the bottom of the unfrozen water, creating localized dark spots under the ice that eventually forms, attracting the sun’s heat.

Pro tip: Filling a rink too early is one of the biggest mistakes ODR owners make. Adhere to the “Don’t fill until you get at least 3 days of sub-freezing temperatures” rule, and even better if you can wait until the ground is frozen.

Here’s a chart showing the growth of ice in inches over 24 hours across various freezing temperatures, illustrating how significantly colder conditions accelerate the rate of ice formation (chart courtesy of Lake Ice).

How to: Before filling, ensure the liner is properly positioned – you might want to add a couple of inches of water before fastening the liner to the boards (above the anticipated rink ice/water line). Some ODR experts prefer a multi-layer freeze when filling. Use a hose (expect a higher-than-normal water bill if doing this) and fill the rink until the deepest spot reaches about 4 inches. Allow this layer of water to freeze completely. Then, add a couple inches of water at a time, allowing each layer to completely freeze. Fill the rink until there are at least 4 inches of ice everywhere in the rink. 

Note: You can also have a water truck fill the rink. This will cost money, but it is especially helpful for owners concerned about straining their well. You can also fill from a pond or lake if you’re close by.

Pro tip: You can fill the rink with hot or cold water, but using hot water to resurface the rink may help smooth the surface and melt any shavings/snow that’s accumulated on the ice. 

Once you have skatable ice, you will need to maintain it. This can sometimes be more of a chore than getting your first skatable ice. But for some, it is a true passion.

It’s good practice to use a shovel, broom or scraper to clean the surface after each use. You can go even further and use a mini-Zamboni or snowblower. Be careful! If your liner is inside the boards, it can be easily torn when shoveling or snowblowing.

You should always clean snow off the surface whenever it accumulates to prevent insulation from forming over the ice. Some ODR owners also flood their rinks with a light layer every couple of skates to maintain a smoother, more consistent surface.

Pro tip: You can use a transfer pump to add to your surface ice, using water from underneath the ice. See the video below for more details on how to use our Extra Skating Days (ESD) method:

Optional Features to Include When Building a Backyard Ice Rink

The five steps above cover your basics for how to build a backyard ice rink. However, many rink owners go beyond that to include other features or upgrades that enhance the rink.

Some of the common upgrades include:

• Hockey-specific upgrades like taller boards, puck retention nets, kickplates, bumper caps, pucks, etc. 

• An ice-refsurfacing solution like a Zamboni or snowblower. 

• Lighting posts or string lights. Note: If you’re building a rink, leave around 4 inches for the light posts when planning the wall. You can also add under ice lighting – see this Facebook post for how to install the under ice lights.