Plastic Rink Liner

Using a plastic ice rink liner for your outdoor or backyard skating is really easy. I recommend you use a rink liner when building your own backyard ice rink.

I also recommend looking into a rink tarp. Our ice rink liners and tarps are available in different sizes.

Both rink tarps and liners are readily available in the USA and Canada.

One or multiple smaller sheets?

You will do best to purchase only one liner for your backyard rink. This way you’ll avoid the trouble of taping many smaller sheets together, which can be very time-consuming. And once you’re done, the plastic may still spring a leak despite your best attempts to keep the taped sheets leakproof. One-piece sheeting simplifies your project and is a very effective solution.

Our rink liners are made of super heavy duty poly that:

• reflects more heat to keep the ground colder
• freezes faster
• provides better grass protection
• helps ice last longer

Liners come in predetermined sizes and thicknesses. Planning a custom-sized rink? You can also order custom sizes. I buy a 50' x 100' white liner every year for my ice rink.

Puncture Precautions

It doesn't matter how heavy your ice rink liner or tarp is - beware the blades under your feet, the rocks or sticks on the ground, and the various hand and power tools in use in and around a backyard ice rink.

The greatest danger to your rink liner is probably the blades under your feet. You've looped the liner up and over your perimeter boards. This is good. But without protection, imagine the shape the liner will be in after a hectic 3 months during which all of the kids and their friends are slamming into the rink boards at warp speed while defending or shooting. The entire perimeter of the liner would be perforated like a postage stamp.

Liner and Tarp Protection

To protect your tarp through several seasons, the tarp will go up and over the perimeter boards as described, and then you'll want to cover the vertical face of the liner with protective boards. These can be screwed to the perimeter boards, or fastened to each other and then clamped or braced to the perimeter boards. Paint the materials you use white to prevent any board melt.

Yes, screws will put a hole in the rink liner. But the holes will be high above the ice. Before dismantling the ice rink, you can mark how you've situated the liner so that next season, the ice rink liner can be reinstalled just the way it was before, and the holes will remain a non-issue.

An additional protection for your tarp would be protecting the tarp as it goes over the top edge of the rink boards. Top edge protection is available for your ice rink tarp.

Repairing your Rink Liner

• Your rink liner may come with a patch kit in sheet form, which you will heat before using. It forms a secure bond when applied.
• Silage film repair tape works extremely well for small holes and tears.
• Repair tape. Careful - any creases in the tape as you apply it to the liner may end up leaking water.
• Caulking, such as Dap Rubber Silicon. Some caulking cures down to minus 35 degrees F.
• Plastic patch - cures underwater.
• Wet/dry tar roof patch
• Tyvek tape
• 3M Super 77 Spray adhesive. This adhesive can also be used to bond two liners if necessary. Wear gloves, and roll them together with a seam roller.

Many backyard rink builders believe that saving and repairing last year's liner may be more trouble than it's worth. These diehards buy a new liner every year without fail because they’d rather be skating than searching for invisible tiny leaks.

Several factors may play into your decision to either recycle your old rink liner or to simply buy new, whether in the USA or Canada. Some of these factors may include finances, whether you have storage space that is free from rodents, and your skill and/or ability to fully dry out and roll up the used liner.

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