Railway sleepers raised bed - anchor or not

Joined
14 Jul 2014
Messages
123
Reaction score
2
Location
Yorkshire
Country
United Kingdom
Hi all,

Building a raised bed against an unsightly wall. The raised bed will have 3 sides, the rear being the wall.

Size wise, it's about 5.5m in length and will have a depth of around 0.6m.

I've dug a channel about 6-8 inches deep and added around 3 inch of compacted hardcore into this. I am planning on adding another 3-5 inches of concrete to this to finish the foundation.

My question is, do the sleepers need anchoring to the base? If I decided to anchor the sleepers I was thinking about driving several screws into the sleepers then setting these in the newly laid concrete to anchor the sleepers to the base.

If anchoring isn't necessary, I can lay the concrete today, let it go off, then lay the sleepers down mid week.

Thanks
 
Sponsored Links
You don't need to anchor it to the base but at 2ft tall you will need to anchor them to something to resist them leaning forward or collapsing in the longer term. A post set in concrete every 4ft would do well.

Just re-read and realised you maybe meant the breadth was 0.6m. If the sleepers are only one high then no need to do the pist affair. A few hammered in stakes will be fine.
 
You don't need to anchor it to the base but at 2ft tall you will need to anchor them to something to resist them leaning forward or collapsing in the longer term. A post set in concrete every 4ft would do well.

Just re-read and realised you maybe meant the breadth was 0.6m. If the sleepers are only one high then no need to do the pist affair. A few hammered in stakes will be fine.

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, the breadth (out from the existing wall) is around 0.6m. The height will be 0.5m.
 
In that case at 0.5m high I would still definately recommend posts concreted in. One every 1.2m if your sleepers are 2.4 that way you have one at each end and one in the middle of every sleeper.
 
Sponsored Links
I didn't account for posts when doing the footings. I don't think there will be sufficient weight to cause the bed to bow. I am using 100mm x 200mm x 2.4m sleepers and they will be laid on their 200mm face.

Each course of sleepers will be screwed to the course beneath with 150mm timberlok screws, every 600mm.

I was thinking of spiking the bottom course through the concrete into the earth with steel rods to stop movement. Will the above negate me having to add posts.

Alternatively I could add a couple of sleepers perpendicular to the longest run and fix these to the wall.
 
Your problem I the fact that your end sleepers at right angles to the wall are not fixed to the wall so add no restraint to the front ones. You are purely relying on the weight of the front sleepers to stop them overturning forward.

If you have a concrete footing and your going on the 200 edge it should be ok but personally I always prefer to go for posts.

At least firmly attach the end ones to the wall so when screwed to the front ones they add some restraint.
 

DIYnot Local

Staff member

If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.

Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.


Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local

 
Back
Top