henny Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 Hi All, Im looking for something that is quick and easy to build that will allow me to create a 20m x 10m level platform for an artificial ice rink, the site where it will be going only has about 20cm difference in height across it. I could use something like litedeck but it think it is a little over the top, I have been looking at marquee cassette flooring systems but was wondering if anyone else had any ideas. Cheers Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImagineerTom Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 Marquee flooring is unlikely to have the right sort of loading requirements and is almost certainly going to be considerably more expensive than using some sort of existing stage decking. This is "normally" done using scaffolding (any local scaffold contractor will be able to do this) but again the cost is going to be significant. It's worth speaking to your rink provider as they will have experienced this problem 100 times over and may well have something in stock to solve your problem - there are a few rink systems that can have legs attached directly to them to cope with slight site variations. I've done rinks before for touring shows - if it's uneven ground then creating shuttering around the perimeter, laying a barrier membrane and then filling in the dips with sand/gravel, followed by another barrier layer then the ice pad is going to be the cheapest solution for medium term jobs. If the rink is just going in for a week or two then biting the bullet and renting a load of cheep steeldeck (£15 per 2m2 piece per week = £1500/week) will be the easiest solution as you'll have friends/crew who already know how to install a flat stage. If it's for longer term or if you have an over-zelous building control / H&S supervisor then you're going to have to go with the scaffolding deck solution but be warned - they will almost certainly have to build you a platform up to 1m off the ground so that they have the room for all the cross bracing and standard componants and this will obviously affect the aesthetic and operational aspects of the rink. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
top-cat Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 Depending where you are, Star Events Group are well worth a call, they have a lot of experience and a lot of kit for building ice rinks out of their standard stage-building parts. People frequently under estimate the weight of ice rinks. They are quite heavy and then you obviously have the weight of people on top of that. And you have to bear in mind the affect of the water on the material. Wooden decks can rot and fall apart - I've put my foot through one just walking across it. Pete H would probably be the man to ask at Star, his contacts should be on their website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junior8 Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 Do you mean one of the 'plastic cutting board type' non ice rinks? If you do the weight will be less and the ones that I have seen build up out of panels which are 'packed up' for level as per a dodgem track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henny Posted August 4, 2014 Author Share Posted August 4, 2014 yes it is a plastic rink and it works out over the 16x9m area of the rink it puts a load down of 18kg per square meter. it is the Commercial Heavy Duty system from this site http://noiceone.com/synthetic_ice_rinks/synthetic_rink_specifications.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImagineerTom Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 Actually fake ice isn't significantly different weight to real ice - the biggest weight factor is your skaters on it; a group of 4 people can stand on a 1m square section so whilst the rink is only 18kg the people can easily exceed 300kg That flooring system you've linked to doesn't have any sub-frame of its own so you need to provide a properly flat floor to lay it on both to support it and to ensure you have an actually flat and usable link - all the recommendations above remain with the exception of back-filled sand as you need a wooden top surface to lay this system on to; marquee flooring will be too expensive, it could be done with a scaffolding structure skimmed with ply but that will be expensive - I'm still drawn towards recommending stage decking since it's inherently designed for creating large flat stable platforms for dynamic loads yet is modular, relatively cheap and can be installed with less expensive crew than scaffolding systems. It is worth just speaking to some "real" ice rink providers - you may well find that the extra cost and hassle of providing a flat stable floor for the plastic ice takes its costs up to something not a million miles away from the cost of a real ice package including a subframe system and the latter will produce more paying customers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.