Railway sleeper retaining wall in Scotland? Driveway honeycomb grid for chips?

scottduffy

scottduffy

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I have been looking at re-designing my back garden which was sloped but the previous owner created a couple of levels on it. I needed to lift almost 200 slabs (poor back) and now that's all done i'm about to start creating levels properly. Well i say properly i just mean that look better. The guy used bricks to create a couple of retaining walls and although they're solid enough they look horrible and are needing spruced up.

My first thought was to build a railway sleeper retaining wall directly in front of the one thats there so that it's not actually holding the garden back and still looks good. I was going to do this as i really think it's pointless removing a perfectly safe structurally sound retaining wall to replace it with a new one. Then i thought maybe using wooden sleepers is not a great idea given the amount of rain we have here in scotland and the inevitable rot which will follow in the years to come.

Does anyone have any experience in building with treated sleepers and how long they usually last? I'm talking the tannalised sleepers and not the original creosote ones as they're banned for home projects due to the toxins seeping out them.

Alternatively does anyone have any ideas what you could face a brick wall with that will spruce it up? I'm not sure i could use roughcast as the facing bricks are not in the best condition so it would need to be something else.

I also have to create a drive at the top level and was wondering if anyone had used the honeycomb gridding that holds chips and stops them sliding downhill as the drive would be slightly sloped.


Regards


Scott
 
There are recycled plastic posts that look like sleepers available which are not supposed to fade in sunlight, they may work, not sure of source. Have seen them used in gardening magazines.
 
Cheers Ed. I'll have a look. The real wood will probably last for years given it's pretty substantial but it's pretty costly too so just weighing up the pros and cons.
 
Tbere are many 'manufactured' wooden railway sleepers available which are up to 3m in length and do not 'sweat' the non-tar based preservatives.

I used the new prooduct for my front garden abd they have proved to be excellent. I think they worked out about £15 each (delivered). The expensive part of the deal was the bery long bronzed screws (25cm) but the end result was worth it.

I will see if I have the paperwork when I get back to the house tomorrow along with the name of the company which manufactured the 'sleelers'.

S
 
scottduffy said:
I also have to create a drive at the top level and was wondering if anyone had used the honeycomb gridding that holds chips and stops them sliding downhill as the drive would be slightly sloped.
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The guy almost opposite me did that about a year ago, all seems fine as far as I can tell.
I guess about a 10-15 degree slope over about 25 feet in length.
 
Cheers guys. Steve i looked at the timberlok screws and they are very expensive although Rembrand Timber and most others now sell their own versions which are also galvanised so should last just the same. I looked at the soft wood sleepers which are 2400mm x 200mm x 100mm and they are indeed around the £15 mark each. There is also oak ones available which are around the £30 each mark and will probably last longer being hardwood but maybe not enough longer to double the price.


Cobra,

The honeycomb stuff looks ideal for me but i had only seen it online. Nice to know it works. I'll get onto that. The builders i had in to quote me for the driveway actually recommended raising the level of the back to level it out which makes sense but then from my ground floor it would be a case of staring at one wall then another huge one above it. I think i prefer the sloped driveway and the view from my dining room it will allow.
 
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scottduffy said:
The honeycomb stuff looks ideal for me but i had only seen it online. Nice to know it works.
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The guy did it himself over a few weekends, I did notice that he put down ( and whacker plated ) a few inches of scalpings to get a firm base first, before laying the grid though.
 
scottduffy said:
Alternatively does anyone have any ideas what you could face a brick wall with that will spruce it up?
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I had a similar issue in our back garden, wanted to use sleepers to disguise a crappy wall (retaining and early didn't want to take down), but the cost of using sleepers was prohibitive - I used some 6" x 2" (poss 5" x 2" - need to check) treated planks, stood on the their end (5" / 6" face looking at you) and fixed to some posts / the wall - gave the look of sleepers, not near the cost, easy to replace one if for any reason needed and bonus of not taking up as much space as a sleeper...
 
I was thinking of something that looked like this. My father in law is a joiner so he'll supervise and seems to think it'll be no problem. I was more worried about the cost of the wall if it was going to rot pretty quickly but I've just noticed they're good for 15 years plus so might go for it. The other option was gabion baskets but they're pretty deep and will take up a fair bit of space in front of the walls. Also the sleepers can be stained to change things up a bit in future. Decisions decisions.

Nigel%20Sussex%20retaining%20wall%20project%20with%20railway%20sleepers%20and%20decking%20Photo%205a.jpg
 
scottduffy said:
I was thinking of something that looked like this. My father in law is a joiner so he'll supervise and seems to think it'll be no problem. I was more worried about the cost of the wall if it was going to rot pretty quickly but I've just noticed they're good for 15 years plus so might go for it. The other option was gabion baskets but they're pretty deep and will take up a fair bit of space in front of the walls. Also the sleepers can be stained to change things up a bit in future. Decisions decisions.

Nigel%20Sussex%20retaining%20wall%20project%20with%20railway%20sleepers%20and%20decking%20Photo%205a.jpg
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They are the beasties. On the screws, my research showed a general fear that the cheaper galvasised screws will not be as robust as the 'bronzed' recommended originals.

The 'sleepers are just as tidy as they were when they first went in. Given the very wet winter/spring I checked the wood out last week. No swelling, splits or leaching. The screws are tight and no chemical reaction is obvious around the heads that are visible. I am considering completing an 'extention' with the addition of a water feature, but that will have to wait as I am about to start an extended trip.

I estimate the sleeper route has been 60% cheaper than a stpne build and was completed in under 3 days afte ground preparation. That included laying in armoured canling for external lights.

Steve
 
I'll certainly choose wisely when it comes to the timberlok screws or not. My issue now is getting rid of bloody at least 200 slabs that I was originally going to keep to fill the backs of the gabion baskets. Might need a skip or three !!! I'll decide over the next few days and take some pictures as we go.
 
scottduffy said:
I'll certainly choose wisely when it comes to the timberlok screws or not. My issue now is getting rid of bloody at least 200 slabs that I was originally going to keep to fill the backs of the gabion baskets. Might need a skip or three !!! I'll decide over the next few days and take some pictures as we go.
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You could try advertising them locally for free - buyer collects ...

Might be worth it for a short period of time if nothing else :)
 
I built a retaining wall 10 years ago with old railway sleepers.

I cut them in half length ways (halves the weight & lets you have curves ;) ) and laid them like bricks. Each sleeper is fixed to the ones below with what I know as "Bunny Bolts"

The concrete on the bottom is underpinning the old & failing concrete wall.

sleepers.jpg
 
That's exactly the layout I'll have. Brick like. I just priced the honeycomb grid for the driveway and it's 30 pounds a metre square. Jeez that's a lot for a 60 metre square drive. Might have to re think that.
 
I priced up a drive with that stuff, I had a chat with a few people that had gone with the honeycomb and I decided against in the end. You do still end up with some spillage/drift of gravel...
 
I only wanted to use it as I could do it myself. I might just get the monoblocking done as planned at the beginning. I'll still be saving a heap with the sleeper walls compared to the brickie doing it.
 
scottduffy said:
That's exactly the layout I'll have. Brick like. I just priced the honeycomb grid for the driveway and it's 30 pounds a metre square. Jeez that's a lot for a 60 metre square drive. Might have to re think that.
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The 'BunnyBolts' are very somilar to the type I used.

The 'honeycomb' gris are ridkculously expendive.

I was lucky to source good qualigy second hand paviours for my drive at £5 per m2.

I am yet to finish the drive and carr stand bur the paviours are stacked safely out of sight. I am estimating a cost of £7-10 per m2 to lay and finish tbem. Was wondering of it would ne chesper to lay Axminster carpet!. The other soljtoon I looked at was coloured concrete with a random block paving 'shape' pressed into it. ('Creteprint). The guy who priced the job was 'pleased" to offer me a decent discount price of £12K. I offered him the pavement. Nothing is cheap these days.
 
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scottduffy said:
I just priced the honeycomb grid for the driveway and it's 30 pounds a metre square.
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As you say, Jeeze! Then there is the cost of the gravel on top of that I was recently quoted £45 / meter for a block drive, "All in"
 
Cobra said:
As you say, Jeeze! Then there is the cost of the gravel on top of that I was recently quoted £45 / meter for a block drive, "All in"
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An Everest quote for block paving opened with the statement - "We start at £12,000"...

I just spluttered "Stick with Double Glazing"....
 
Sounds like me!
 
Cobra said:
But that's bloody expensive too, perhaps that's why they are branching out? :D

Be adventurous buy some masonry paint and go multi coloured (y)
:D
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Their product range is expanding....

Sometimes it is worthwhile looking or getting a quote - can help keep you grounded when you need a laugh...

http://www.everest.co.uk/products/
 
Cobra said:


Yeah and they were extortionately priced then !
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Never used them.... I get all my stuff from Germany. About 25% cheaper that the cheap UK suppliers, top quality and that's with delivery. I have a really good builder who has never failed in measuring up - allways accurate.
 
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