Garden sleepers

[trigger_andy]

1 hour ago, adrian007 said:

Theres a question.

These are winning at the moment

 

Sleepers Rustic Sleepers 1200mm x 150mm x 100mm

WWW.EDECKS.CO.UK

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With a rustic bark finish these sleepers are pleasing to the eye!You may want to create steps, pathways, retaining walls or even a raised terrace.Pressure

 

I'll be getting enough to get the cheap rate.

Do you have a suggestion?

 

Damn, they are so cheap they are almost give away prices. Lovely moisture trap with all that bark.  

[adrian007]

Yes, they aren't ideal... but they are giveaway. I dont expect decent wood to be as cheap... but double or triple is beyond me

The Miller's parent a bad shout, I'll go and check them out.

[scbk]

If you want to do it on the cheap, it depends what is available locally, especially during lockdown?

 

I've built some raised beds of out larch 6x2s, probably similar price to the rustic sleepers per meter, looks beautiful, and should last 10-20yrs?

 

 

2nd hand scaffold boards can sometimes be got for cheap/free, they won't last a huge length of time

 

Pallets.... won't last long, but if they're free and you get a few years out of them...?

 

 

Non-wood items;

Large tyres, plastic oil tanks, IBCs etc, all cheap/free and won't rot?

[scbk]

[scbk]

Here's one, roughly 6ft x 4ft, cost zilch

 

Might not suit front garden in suburbia though

 

 

[Stere]

Quote

Have you considered contacting some on the Millers on here? They might be worth a dropping a message in the Milling Forum. 

 

 I have  some larch "waste"  offcuts from a local sawmill for veg plot edges. (They were burning then to get rid onsite in a big bonfire ) ?

 

Not good for  retaining walls though unless you get sleepers made to order.

 

If you live near chesnut coppice area would be ideal material.

Edited April 23, 2020 by Stere

[djbobbins]

I built a raised bed in our back garden out of pressure treated 9” x 1.5” boards, two edged up against each other with about 2” into the ground and 16” above. We moved in 2007, I think I built the bed in spring 2008 (might have been 2009) but by 2017 it was falling apart. 2” x 2” pegs pretty much rotted out and the tops of the boards fragile to any weight, owing to rot at the level of the top of the soil. So either 8 or 9 years life.

I got rid of mine and rebuilt a bed out of engineering bricks, 5 courses of bricks laid on a base of about 3” concrete. I’d never laid bricks before so the finish isn’t something a brickie would be proud of, but it’s passable when viewed from a distance and I’m hoping it’s going to last a while!!

[Steven P]

I made mine from shuttering they used to make concrete paths with. 2" thick and cheap wood, I think so far they have lasted me 4 or 5 years. The herb patch with a wooden border has been in there for 7 years, bry similar wood and untreated. Copost heap has the same wood I think most wods will last a few years and it's a payoff to replace them every few years or to hve them long lasting.

 

I might be tempted to say cheap wood, to replace them every few years but when you fo refresh the soil inside, dig in lots of compost and so on

[Ratman]

I want what Ratman has really... :-)

The sleepers i got were 8’ long and 8”x4” thick, when installing them i dug out the floor to find my levels, but then decided to dig another 8” out on top of that, i then refilled the 8” with clean limestone for the bottom sleepers to sit on, and covered the sides too partially, as to hopefully stop them standing in/holding water (quite heavy clay ground where i am, pics to follow) and then like i say i lined the inside of them top to bottom which will defo be aiding in their survival. Think i paid £9 a sleeper back when i did them, but collected them myself.

[The avantgardener]

I used pressure treated softwood sleepers to terrace my lawn, scaffold boards for my veg plot raised bed. The scaffold boards lasted 3 years, some of the sleepers started to go at 5 years.

I replaced them with some Sweetchestnut that I had milled off a guy on here, 5 years later they are still solid as a rock.