Outdoor Rink Problems

[YMCAHockey]

I see a ton of questions regarding equipment. The problem I have is with our rink. We have a nice outdoor rink, unfortunately the concrete footers have risen over the years creating an unlevel and unsafe surface along the boards. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks!

[MDE3]

Depends what you mean..is the surface inside the footers asphalt or concrete? If it's asphalt it would be possible to bring in a small mill with grade leveling controls and cut the bumps..but it will take a very good operator to do a good job. then the surface can be refinished with a grade of sand seal asphalt or similar ..even a ruberized asphalt could be used to cover over the milled surface.

If the surface is concrete, and has lifted, along with the footers, then the repair I'm afraid could be much more expensive. There are concrete diamond grinders out there, but to get one with a grade system, into the rink could be a challenge. Also they are quite long, so getting close to the boards will be difficult along the radii.

Usually for the concrete to have moved, there is an issue with water intrusion under the surface, which has caused swelling and or shrinkage of the subgrade...causing the concrete to move. Doing only a surface correction will probably result in the same problem re-ocurring in the not too distant future. Ultimately removing the concrete, and replacing the subgrade with good draining materials as well as some tile to encourage even more drainage could be necessary. Then the new material must be solidly compacted to support any overlaid structure or floor. If you can determine where (if it is the case) water is getting under the surface and stop it, you may get the rink to resettle once you have made sure you have stopped any inflow of water. It may even be possible to use a "jumping jack" impact or "rammer" type compactor to drive the high stuff down again. But if water intrusion is causing the problem, any solution that does not stop this, will be only temporary.

[YMCAHockey]

The surface is asphalt, the footers are concrete. I would agree with you that water is probably causing the problem. There is no drainage present. What's possible without tearing up the entire rink?
Thanks for all the great information, this will greatly help as we are preparing our long range plans.

[MDE3]

Well first if possible dig a trench about 16 - 24" and 3' deep around the rink and place some stone in the bottim, above the stone lay some 4" "tile" ..plastic drainage pipe, and make sure that you can connect this to some low lying area away from the rink to prevent the water from continuing to penetrate the grade under the rink.

Not knowing where you are, but there are probably several contractors with some small milling machines who could come in and cut off the high spots with their machines..less than half a day would do it...but make sure they use an "averaging beam" on the unit ..to only remove the high spots. (I helped design this kind of machinery years ago, and know first hand what can or cannot be done with it.) When finished, a light slurry sand seal could be used to patch and smooth over the rougher milled surface..leaving a very smooth skating surface. This repair would not be perfect, but would be a huge improvement. It should not be terribly expensive...but it may still run over $10,000 to effect.