A real rink, no ice required.

A street hockey rink is a hard-surface court with containment. The surface has to let the puck or ball glide without grabbing skate wheels, and the perimeter has to stop shots without turning the yard into a fence.

**Common footprints:** half rink 40' x 60' - full rink 85' x 185'. Most Georgia backyard builds land at half-rink size with dasher boards on the shooting ends.

Every hard-surface court we quote in Georgia is built in the same five stages. What changes between a $18k pickleball court and a $60k tennis court is the size of the footprint, the depth of the base, and the surface system on top.

1. Layout, grading and drainage The contractor lasers the footprint, confirms setbacks and access for equipment, strips organics, and cuts the pad to grade. Georgia clay holds water, so the pad is built with a 1% planar slope in one direction — never a crown — and edge drains or a French drain are added where the yard sheds toward the court.

2. Structural base 4"–6" of graded aggregate base compacted in lifts to 95% density. This is the single most important cost line on the job: a court that cracks almost always failed in the base, not in the coating.

3. Slab or asphalt pad Post-tensioned or fiber-reinforced concrete (typically 4"–5") or 2"–3" of plant-mix asphalt. Concrete is the Georgia default for backyard courts because it tolerates our freeze/thaw and heavy rain cycles and can carry a modular tile surface later without rework.

4. Surface system Either an acrylic system — primer/sealer, acrylic resurfacer, two textured color coats, then textured white line paint — or a modular interlocking sport tile court kit laid over the cured pad. Acrylic gives the classic tour look; sport tile gives instant drainage, zero recoating, and a DIY-friendly install.

5. Lines, equipment and perimeter Game lines to governing-body spec, then posts, nets, hoops or backstops set in sleeves or footings, followed by fencing, netting, windscreens, lighting and landscape restoration.

**Space:** confirm the full pad plus a safety run-out on all sides. For a modular sport tile court kit, the pad must extend at least 2" past the finished kit dimension on every side so the tiles can expand and contract seasonally.

**Slope:** up to about a 3' fall across the pad can be absorbed with grading; beyond that you are into retaining walls or engineered fill, which is where budgets move.

**Base condition:** sport tile can only go over a solid, level surface — new or existing concrete or asphalt. It cannot be installed directly on gravel, compacted stone, or bare ground.

**Existing courts:** a cracked or faded slab is usually the cheapest court you will ever own. Crack fill plus an acrylic resurface, or a sport tile kit laid straight over the old surface, both avoid new concrete entirely.

**Access:** a 9'-wide path for a skid steer and concrete truck reach. Pumping concrete over a house adds cost.

**Permits and HOA:** most Georgia municipalities treat a backyard court as an impervious-surface addition. Expect setback review, impervious-coverage limits, and HOA architectural approval before build.

**Sealed concrete or acrylic.** A sealed hard-court surface with painted rink lines and creases. Cheapest to build, hardest on knees and wheels.

**Modular sport tile court kit.** The standard for roller and ball hockey: interlocking sport tile gives consistent glide, drains instantly, and absorbs impact far better than bare concrete. Molded lines, expansion bumpers and perimeter ramps come as part of the kit, installed over a level pad.

- 24" or full 4' dasher boards with plexiglass tops - Two regulation goals with net sets - Modular sport tile surface upgrade - Ball or puck containment netting above the boards - LED pole lighting for evening play - Player benches, scoreboard, center-ice logo - Basketball hoop and overlay lines for multi-sport use