If you think you need a covered stadium to build an ice skating or hockey rink, think again! The advent of cool, ice-less synthetic rinks means that you can create a place to skate year-round in all kinds of nifty places, and this includes your very own backyard!
At KwikRink Synthetic Ice,™ we’ve been involved in creating and manufacturing synthetic ice since the mid-1990s. We’ve seen the product grow and get even better for feeling like real ice.
We’ve also been part of some advances to make synthetic ice more flexible and affordable. That means that more people and localities can install synthetic ice rinks and enjoy skating without the high costs of refrigeration and maintaining a real ice rink.
Here are some cool places that you can build a synthetic ice rink. Give us a call if you want to get started on one!
Your Basement
A basement can be the perfect place to transform into a hockey rink. You need a flat surface to install synthetic ice, and basements typically have a concrete slab floor. You can turn unfinished storage space into fabulous rink space for practice and fun.
Have a smaller basement? Turn a portion of it into a practice area for stick-handling and shooting. Set up a goal in the corner and have a short space to dribble, pass, and score — or defend.
Your Driveway
A synthetic rink can be built up using side-boards and a foundation to make a flat area, kind of like an above-ground pool. If you have available street parking or a long driveway with an extension, you can turn your rectangular area into a home rink for practicing those skating moves.
Your Backyard
If you have room enough in your backyard for a swimming pool, you have room for a rink. You can build a deck from wood or pour a slab if you want something more permanent. Install your synthetic ice rink on top of it.
You could also create benches or other seating areas for spectators and other skaters. Imagine sipping a cold one on a summer’s day and watching your kids play hockey in the backyard. It could happen!
Game Courts
If you have a multi-purpose room at your school, community center, or parks and recreation site, you can turn your game court into a hockey rink by installing synthetic ice. If you need to use the court for many purposes, you can install a synthetic ice rink by snapping the panels together on the floor.
It’s quick and easy and only takes a rubber mallet to get the job done. It’s not a permanent installation, and you can lift the synthetic ice panels and store to convert the gymnasium back into a basketball court or for dodgeball.
If you do want a year-round ice rink solution, you can still use synthetic ice. The installation changes slightly to put in anchor plates to make it a permanent fixture.
You can keep it synthetic ice at all times, for the closest thing to real ice you can find. KwikRink’s synthetic ice has 90% of the friction of actual ice, and skates and pucks behave very similarly.
Synthetic ice means you don’t have to maintain refrigeration of the ice or use a Zamboni to maintain it. A synthetic ice rink can be a cost-effective solution for many rec centers.
If you install a synthetic ice rink but have cold winters where keeping ice frozen is not a problem, you can have your cake and eat it too. In the winter, you can flood a synthetic rink with water and create an actual ice rink on top of it.
When the weather warms, thaw and remove the ice, and your synthetic rink is ready to go with a little mopping.
Garages and Outbuildings
You can easily convert your garage, with its poured concrete floor, into a synthetic ice rink. Our KwikRink synthetic ice is strong enough that you can even park your car on it. That means you don’t have to remove the synthetic ice to use your garage for your car sometimes.
Just remember to back it out when you want to skate and remember that although synthetic ice isn’t as slick as actual ice, it is still slippery. When you walk to or from your car, treat it like real ice to avoid falls!
You can also construct or use a pre-fab shed or outbuilding with a poured or wooden floor to create a synthetic rink. Sheds are low-cost additions, and synthetic ice rinks do not require access to water, plumbing or power, so you can save money and still get your covered rink on your property.
On a Rooftop
You’ve heard of rooftop pools and patios. Why not a rooftop synthetic ice rink? Many condo buildings, apartment buildings, or hybrid towers have large flat roofs that they have turned into community amenities and features. A synthetic ice rink doesn’t create the weight of an actual ice rink, so it doesn’t stress your roof’s structure.
Imagine a multi-purpose rooftop patio with some folks barbecuing in the corner, some others sunbathing, reading, or looking at the views, and still some others playing a pick-up game of hockey.
If you don’t want to have the hockey rink installed all-year-round, synthetic ice comes in panels or tiles that you can put down and pick up again quickly.
Get Started on Your Custom Synthetic Rink
As you can see, you can install a synthetic ice rink almost anywhere! When you’re ready to consider a project that turns underused space in or near your home or business into a fabulous place to play and exercise, give the pros at KwikRink a call or complete our rink configuration form.
We’ve got a bank of ideas for cool places to build synthetic ice rinks and a gallery of completed projects to help spark your imagination.
At KwikRink, we stand by our product and have a customer satisfaction guarantee. Enjoy long-lasting durability and superior performance with a KwikRink synthetic ice rink. Give us a call, and let’s see what we can build for you.
