'Railway' sleepers for garden use?

Doc_N

Has anyone any experience of buying and using new, treated, 2400 X 200 X 100mm sleepers?

Sound ideal for our purposes, but they're expensive (has anyone found a cheap source?) and you're very reliant on the seller's assurances about the treatment.

wifeforlife

I found sleepers to be costing between £18 - £22 pounds, I'm in Northern Ireland


I've now decided to use scaffolding boards instead, they look the same, they're easier cut and I'm going to paint it anyway, and very cheap

lostinrates

wifeforlife wrote: »

I found sleepers to be costing between £18 - £22 pounds, I'm in Northern Ireland


I've now decided to use scaffolding boards instead, they look the same, they're easier cut and I'm going to paint it anyway, and very cheap

The only thing I'd suggest is that if used as retaining boards they probably will not last so long.

( we have used timber other than sleepers for raised beds too, and considered this, lining with damp proof membrane, but are still aware its not a forever solution and at some point some structural repairs will be needed, where as we have sleepers retaining a hefty bank that are securely in place and have been for some time on a bit of farm bank prepaying our arrival that I doubt will rot in our time here ( though might suffer when my husbands keeps going over that area with his slash and burn weed control )

arbrighton

The guys who are currently doing our landscaping get them from somewhere near wrexham for £17 each- apparently better than anything closer (Cheshire)

phoebe1989seb

We used them for veg beds at our last house. Can't recall the price but we bought ours at Sydenhams Builders Merchants who were quite reasonable for most building materials etc.....

After a year or do they achieved an attractive, weathered look - far nicer than the black ones imho

cajef

We used sleepers for several borders and some steps when we landscaped our sloping back garden five years ago, they have weathered and still look good with no signs of rot anywhere.:)

sleepymans

B&M stores sell 1.2m long "sleepers" for £14.99.
They arent genuine railway ones so they look untreated so arent blackened by toxic preservatives, but I am using a couple to make a simple chunky rustic bench near my soon-to-be-installed pond.

Andy1608

I bought mine from eBay, had to travel to Manchester for them but they're great and look really smart as lawn edging, nice think 12.5x12.5 ones.I love the weathered look about them,didn't want off the shelf ones.

somethingcorporate

I think there is too much risk on using old sleepers, they may look fine in the shop but when it gets hot out there you may find it oozing tar. We got some great ones for our backgarden online and they aren't as authentic looking as the genuine ones but also no chance of them being covered in nasties to poison our garden!

We paid about £18 each and £25 for delivery - we bought about £800 worth so around 45.

Doc_N

Thanks for all the advice - much appreciated.

We changed our minds in the end after looking further into it. The 'proper' ex-railway ones really do do the job well, but they're a health risk if you handle them, and I'm not overkeen on tar all over the garden when they 'leak' in hot weather.

The new ones are fine - except that you're very dependent on the supplier's assurance about them having been properly tanalised. If they haven't been, they'll just rot after a couple of years - and they're far too expensive for that!

londonTiger

use redwood from arnold laver. They are rot resistent and used to make high quality wooden planters and other garden furniture.
http://www.laveronline.co.uk/search/redwood


railway sleepers are just too thick to use for general stuff and EXTREMELY heavy as well. You'll need to have access to a machine that can cut timber logs into thinner pieces which you probably wont have.

if you split the railway sleeper into thinner planks the exposed face will not have treatment either.