i am building a retaining wall with railway sleepers near the top of a sloping embankment in my garden and i would appreciate any ideas in how to secure the sleepers on my slope, I am thinking of using 36 inch met posts with a 4 X 4 post in. Is this a good idea ? Any help would be welcome.
building a retaining wall
- Thread starter lindrew
- Start date
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RedHerring2
Height of the ground to be retained might be useful. 
Personally I wouldn't recommend using met posts, or wooden posts to support the sleepers. They will rot out after a few years as a minimum but as the other poster said it also depends on how deep the garden you will be holding back is. Anything more than 18" or so and the weight will just push the met posts over.
A better solution would be to use oak posts and concrete them in, although that would be as a minimum in my eyes. A better idea, and one I have used twice is to obtain some lengths of I-section steel beam (try local steel stockholders or structural building engineers). Select an appropriate size so the gap in the I section is big enough to accept the thickness of the sleepers you are using and then concrete the I sections into the ground at gaps to match the length of your sleepers (in the same way you would if you were using concrete fence posts). Once the concrete has gone off just drop the sleepers into the channels between the I beams and hey presto - instant retaining wall!! I then painted the I beams with a contrasting hammerite type paint to the colour your sleepers are/will be
A top tip though is make sure any height adjustments are carried out by varying the depth of the hole so the beams are concreted in at their finished height. From bitter experience it takes hours to saw of cut off the top of the beams if you get it wrong!!
If you search the net you will find some pictures of installations I am sure.
The advantage of the I section is that they wont rot out and if a sleeper needs replacing at any time you can lift them out and replace.
All I would say is from experience you get what you pay for when it comes to sleepers. Garden center ones, or DIY 'sheds' are OK but tend to split as they dry as they are green timber, you will get better quality from a timber merchant, but better still are 'real' railway sleepers from a reclamation year that will last you for years.
Footnote: The above is suitable for 'small' retaining walls, or where the area behind the wall is not too large. If you were going to try to hold back say 6ft of garden that goes back for 50ft then you are into a whole new ballgame as the weight of that mass of earth is huge. In this case you will need a proper structural wall built with reinfoced foundations etc etc. Way beyond the ability of the average DIY person. If in doubt seek professional advice.
A better solution would be to use oak posts and concrete them in, although that would be as a minimum in my eyes. A better idea, and one I have used twice is to obtain some lengths of I-section steel beam (try local steel stockholders or structural building engineers). Select an appropriate size so the gap in the I section is big enough to accept the thickness of the sleepers you are using and then concrete the I sections into the ground at gaps to match the length of your sleepers (in the same way you would if you were using concrete fence posts). Once the concrete has gone off just drop the sleepers into the channels between the I beams and hey presto - instant retaining wall!! I then painted the I beams with a contrasting hammerite type paint to the colour your sleepers are/will be
A top tip though is make sure any height adjustments are carried out by varying the depth of the hole so the beams are concreted in at their finished height. From bitter experience it takes hours to saw of cut off the top of the beams if you get it wrong!!
If you search the net you will find some pictures of installations I am sure.
The advantage of the I section is that they wont rot out and if a sleeper needs replacing at any time you can lift them out and replace.
All I would say is from experience you get what you pay for when it comes to sleepers. Garden center ones, or DIY 'sheds' are OK but tend to split as they dry as they are green timber, you will get better quality from a timber merchant, but better still are 'real' railway sleepers from a reclamation year that will last you for years.
Footnote: The above is suitable for 'small' retaining walls, or where the area behind the wall is not too large. If you were going to try to hold back say 6ft of garden that goes back for 50ft then you are into a whole new ballgame as the weight of that mass of earth is huge. In this case you will need a proper structural wall built with reinfoced foundations etc etc. Way beyond the ability of the average DIY person. If in doubt seek professional advice.
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