Editor’s note: Club member and HANDY forum regular, Kevin Bartley (also known as jdeere), has a passion for the sport of curling. Learn how he helps lay out his community’s rink.

The arch-rib community building is approximately 150 ft. wide x 45 ft. long and has a concrete floor with wood edging designed to hold three sheets of regulation-size curling ice. Each sheet must be a minimum of 146 ft. long x 14 ft.-2 in. wide.

To start, we cool the cement floor to 24 degrees. (Despite the fact that Canada uses the metric system, all temperatures are measured in Fahrenheit. This allows for better control of the ice temperatures, as the degrees are smaller.) The floor is not quite level and the boards around the edge are not sealed to the floor all the way around. To ensure a watertight seal, we apply tape designed for repairing silage bags between the floor and boards. We also tape the ice plant control sensors to the floor. The air temperature in the rink is set to about 32 degrees, as the ice must freeze from the bottom up. About 100 gallons of water are used per sheet of ice. If you use more water than that, it takes too long to freeze and using less water takes too long to level the surface.  

Flooding
We apply floods next. We use a hose with a hockey stick at the end to control the flow of water. A rope is wound around the hose to keep it from freezing to the ice (see photo 1). Each flood creates about 1/8 in. of ice; we need more than 1/2 in. to cover our ice plant controls. After achieving the appropriate ice thickness, we prepare for painting. The ice must be scraped to remove all the impurities that have floated to the top. (As each flood freezes, dissolved solids migrate to the surface.) As much leveling as possible is done prior to painting the ice surface. 

Painting the ice
The white paint acts as a thermal barrier, so it is applied to the top of most of the ice. We mix the paint in two batches, each consisting of 20 kilograms of paint (44 pounds of powder mixed with water to create 45 gallons of paint). A 2-in. pump is used to mix and pump the paint into the 10-ft.-wide spray boom mounted on a PVC frame (see photo 2). A larger, smoother hose is used for painting, so it won’t leave marks on the paint. The ice is cooled to 20 degrees, which allows the paint to freeze almost instantly. A piece of plastic on one end of the boom is used to help control overspray around the outside edges of the rink. After the paint is applied, we seal it by using the painting boom to spay a layer of water, creating a heavy coating of ice over the paint. 

Marking the rink
The next step is to lay out a grid of string for marking the placement of lines and houses (colored rings on the ice) according to standard curling-rink regulations. A 1/4-in. drill bit is used to make holes at the center of each house, creating pivot points for a router jig. The jig and router are then used to cut the outside edges of each ring in the houses.

I had to retrofit the old jig found in the building (photo 3) to fit a new router. I asked Club members for help on the HANDY forum, and they responded with tips for safety, images of what I wanted to achieve and, ultimately, ideas for fixing the jig. With EZgoing’s milk carton idea (designed to control the snow produced while cutting), I was able to rework the old jig, though I chose to use a plastic ice cream pail instead. It worked perfectly.

Cutting and painting the houses
As each cut is made, another person sweeps up the snow created by the router (see photo 4). The snow makes the ice very slippery and, if walked on, freezes to the ice. There are four cuts for each house. All cuts with the same diameter are made, then we move the router to the next position to cut the next set of rings. After all the houses are cut and cleaned, we paint them with two coats of yellow and blue paint (photo 5). The black ring around the edge is created by routing through the white paint, and then leaving the groove with no paint in it. The rings are sealed using the same equipment and techniques as with the white paint. The center of each house is cut out to allow ads to be placed in the button.

The lines are installed next. We use knitting wool in three colors: blue, red and black. The wool is pulled tight and sprayed with water to freeze it into place (see photo 6). The hog lines consist of two strips of wool, 4 in. apart. Black paint is used to color between the two pieces of wool.

Local advertising
We sell two types of advertising in our rink as one of our fundraisers. We have year-round ads mounted on the walls and scoreboards and seasonal ads installed in the ice. The “in-ice” advertising is available at two cost levels. Level 1 are paper ads, which are printed on sheets of paper and frozen into the ice. Buyers get four copies per ad, two in the buttons and two in the corners near the waiting room. Level 2 can be either six paper ads installed near the waiting room or painted ads, which are painted directly into the ice using black paint.

To place the ads, we stretch two strings across the ice for guides, trace the letters using a set of stencils and seal them with a coat of ice. Then we start flooding again. The first flood is light, about 140 gallons of water. We fasten a sock over the end of the hose to slow the flow of water. This prevents the water from cutting through the thin layer of ice and ruining the paint job. After the first flood freezes, we start flooding with regular floods. We raise the ice temperature to 24 degrees to prevent the water from freezing on the high spots yet allowing it to flow into the low spots. We apply floods until the ice is at least 1/8 in. above the lines. We then scrape and marinate the ice until it is level (photo 7).

Hacks
Next we use a router to cut holes for the hacks (photo 8). We fill them with water and place the hacks in the holes. To keep them in place until the water freezes, we place a board and a couple curling rocks on them for weight (see photo 9). Once everything is frozen, the rocks and blocks are removed and the hacks are cleaned. (We remove excess ice from the rubber foot pieces with a propane torch and shop vacuum.)

Pebbling
The ice needs to be scraped and then pebbled to be ready for curling. This is done as close as possible to game time to ensure the best possible ice conditions. Walking backward with a side-to-side motion, water is sprinkled onto the ice to create a pebbled surface (see photo 10).

Finishing touches
Prior to game time, the rocks are placed on rubber strips, allowing them to cool before being placed onto the ice. (If the rocks are placed onto the ice before they cool, they will melt into the ice or, even worse, the rock may become damaged.) Then metal pins for measuring are installed in the center of each button. First we drill holes slightly smaller than the pins, then the heated pins are inserted into the ice. After they freeze in, their accuracy is checked by bridging a straightedge from the center line to the T-line.

DEFINITION OF TERMS:

Waiting room: Public lobby/viewing area.

Houses: A set of four colored rings at the end of each sheet. From inside to outside, the rings are called: button, 4 ft., 8 ft. and 12 ft., referring to the outside diameter of each ring. Our buttons have advertising in them, 4-ft. ring is yellow, 8-ft. is white and 12-ft. is blue. All are edged with a black band that is considered part of the ring. This is especially important on the 12-ft. ring. If a rock is touching any part of the house, even the black edging, it is still considered to be in the house.

Hog line:  The 4-in.-wide line running from side to side on each sheet. Ours is black.

T-line:  A black line running across the sheet through the center of each house. The T-line crosses the center line forming a “T.”

Back line:  A black line running across each sheet with the outer edge (hack side) even with the back of the house where it crosses the center line.

Hacks:  Rubber foot grips placed 3 in. from the center line and 6 ft. behind the back line. They are used to provide a gripping surface for feet when throwing the rocks. Players use the hack that places their throwing hand on the center line (right handed, left hack).

All of the above parts are placed at both ends of each sheet.

Center line:  A black line that runs the entire length of each sheet. It goes through both T-lines and ends at the hacks.

4-ft. center section:  Most curling rinks have a 4-ft.-wide section down the center of each sheet (2 ft. on each side of the center) that is painted a different color. We don’t paint this section; we outline it with red lines.

Pebble:  Frozen drops of water that are sprinkled on the ice. Pebble is required to reduce the friction of the rocks on the ice. Without pebble it would be impossible to throw a rock from one end to the other.

Pebbling: The act of applying pebble to the ice. A pebble can (a special container made for this use) and a pebble head (a specially designed nozzle) are used.

Marinating:  The act of leveling the ice surface after the final flood of water has been applied. The ice surface is pebbled and scraped repeatedly until the ice surface is flat.

Scraping:  A razor sharp blade is used to shave the surface of the ice.