Making a wall from sleepers

nanook

can anyone help me, I have a query regarding building a small wall using sleepers.

How do a secure the sleeper on their side to ensure that they are sturdy and safe, I have two you kids at home and want to make it safe as well as nice.

I have seen straps attached to an existing wall of sleepers but some also mentioned tar, but i am not sure how safe that is if we get some warm weather (call me an optimist)

Any advice and help would be greatly appreciated.

nanook

CJhaughey

The simplest solution is to buy two lengths of RSJ that will take the sleepers that you buy.
Dig a hole sufficiently deep and concrete the RSJ in place.
Slide the sleepers in place and you are done.
You do know that sleepers are full of toxic chemicals like creosote?
In Scandinavia they are classed as toxc waste.:eek:

nanook

many thanks for the advice. I already have the base in place. I need to build up from the existing base

Btw I have no idea what to do with an rsj

lawdylawd

it of course depends on how high you want the wall.driving a stake into the ground on the earth side of the wall and attaching it to the sleepers works just fine if its only one or two high. use rsj's if its any higher. these days most sleepers don't come with tar etc but there are some still around. avoid if possible because its carcinogenic, bad for the soil and sticks to clothing if you sit them.

CJhaughey

try this plan view.

Sonnenblumen

Why would anyone want to build such an ugly and comparatively speaking expensive wall?

You did not mention the height and is frequently the case, people have no idea of the pressures exewrted on retention walls. Even with RSJs, most time sthey are found leaning because of inadequate depth and/concrete/footings.

If there are no significant lateral pressures you could secure 100x100 posts in concrete and fix 150x25mm or heavier if required. If its got to be sleepers you should consider internal fixings to rear posts (metal/timber). Exposed RSJ ends are really ugly and dangerous but at least consistent with ugly railway sleepers.

How bad can it get to build something so crude? :mad:

Nonmonotonic

only problem with the RSJ solution is that it doesn't look very natural. It might be better to stagger the sleepers ( like a block wall ), drill through them and put steel bars down through them to lock the whole lot in place.

lawdylawd

Sonnenblumen is obviously an arbiter of taste and personal choice. we should all bow down to his superior ideas of how something so personal as a garden should be built. i stand suitably chastened.thank you for your enlightenment.

The Sweeper

Keep it civil please chaps. Sonnenblumen obviously doesn't like sleepers, and I'll ask him/her/it to make a constructive suggestion for an alternative as opposed to badgering the OP's idea. The OP is understandably offended and has made his/her/its feelings known, so now time out both of you okay?

The "sleepers" thing is peculiar - at least down here, where the term can be used to refer to any piece of timber that's thicker than about 2" (which apparently makes it a 'plank'). Our local hardware store sells a range of treated pine sleepers of different lengths and widths, but similar thicknesses - they can be quite attractive when used to build a retaining wall, if secured properly.

Sonnenblumen

lawdylawd wrote: »

Sonnenblumen is obviously an arbiter of taste and personal choice. we should all bow down to his superior ideas of how something so personal as a garden should be built. i stand suitably chastened.thank you for your enlightenment.

Taste, personal choice, whatever are you talking about?

Also, suggesting that an RSJ be used to retain a wall > 3 sleepers high, clearly shows more evidence of same!

nanook

To say that sleepers are ugly is a personal opinion, I personally choose to put them up in the back garden to remove an unsightly vegetable box that was put there by the previous owner.

Thanks for all your help, I am only building the sleepers 2 high and it is going to be a block work style for stability.

Many thanks, and if i get a chance I will post the end result.

Sonnenblumen

Important to clarify and distinguish between Railway Sleepers and New Sleepers eg Pressure Treated Pine, Oak etc. The former as most will agree is toxic, risk of caricinogenic substances leeching into soil etc, oil stained, pocked holed, uneven, unenvironmental etc etc. These are matter of facts and not personal opinion. Use of such materials is not only unacceptable but also put at risk any people who may now in future be in the garden or come in contact with such materials.

On the otherhand new sleepers generally from controlled sources, pressure treated are clean, and much more attractive.

New sleepers can be used in a number of ways, and neat and secure fixing is essential for both appearance but also for future stability. We use new sleepers regularly and a few pics might help illustrate my point.
Sample Pine Sleepers.JPG

Sample Pine Sleepers (1).JPG

Sample Pine Sleepers (2).JPG

Sample Pine Sleepers (3).JPG

Sample Pine Sleepers (4).JPG

Use of RSJs to secure sleepers is crude and dangerous, but this might be a mute point if you someone installs toxic materials in any garden space no matter what the intended use might be.

mikom

Don't think much of this one TBH



I reckon the roughness of real railway sleepers would have looked better there. But this might be a moot point with the bland choice of planting. (or mute point if you like)

muggyog

Have to say I disagree completely with the railway sleeper haters.

Railway sleepers are weathered so most of the toxins have leeched out ( toner is a carcinogen, would you advise not using a photocopier?). I would much prefer the pock marked uneven nature of them to the artificial look of the 'new' sleepers. Why not just paint some concrete blocks brown? If a natural look is desired use logs (I've done this with success). Risks associated with use of railway sleepers are no more than using weedkiller or slug pellets.

I personally wouldent use railway sleepers because I have an older traditional garden but if I had a modern garden no way would I use 'new' sleepers.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.


Stolen from another thread, http://www.railwaysleeper.com/railway%20sleeper%20treatments.htm

glineli

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

Important to clarify and distinguish between Railway Sleepers and New Sleepers eg Pressure Treated Pine, Oak etc. The former as most will agree is toxic, risk of caricinogenic substances leeching into soil etc, oil stained, pocked holed, uneven, unenvironmental etc etc. These are matter of facts and not personal opinion. Use of such materials is not only unacceptable but also put at risk any people who may now in future be in the garden or come in contact with such materials.

On the otherhand new sleepers generally from controlled sources, pressure treated are clean, and much more attractive.

New sleepers can be used in a number of ways, and neat and secure fixing is essential for both appearance but also for future stability. We use new sleepers regularly and a few pics might help illustrate my point.
Sample Pine Sleepers.JPG

Sample Pine Sleepers (1).JPG

Sample Pine Sleepers (2).JPG

Sample Pine Sleepers (3).JPG

Sample Pine Sleepers (4).JPG

Use of RSJs to secure sleepers is crude and dangerous, but this might be a mute point if you someone installs toxic materials in any garden space no matter what the intended use might be.

Sonnenblumen, they look class, something look really well. Would B&Q sell these or is it only certain places? I would like to raise my flower beds and use these
Would this be something that a complete novice would be able to do or would i be better off getting in experts, such as yourself!!!

Sonnenblumen

Hi Glineli,

I'm not sure if B&Q would stock the new sleepers, but they can be obtained from the better Paving/Garden Centres. For example, some Dublin outlets that stock similar include:

Clonee Sawmills, Clonee; Natural Stone Yard, Ashbourne; Landscape Depot,Tallaght; Abwood, Newcastle, Wicklow.

If you're handy at DIY it should be possible to do a neat job, but because of the clean profile and finish etc any poor cutting/fixing can be very visible (unlike rougher railway sleepers which can easily disguise poorer workmanship). We use galvanised plate brackets and coach screws to achieve secure fixing of corners/mitres and 100x100mm pressure treated posts for anchoring in ground.

Good luck.