Raised bed from 2.4m 'sleepers'

[Alan Ambrose]

@DarrenP

 

I like the look of your T design  - nice to be able to use them as seating too.

 

I bought dowels for mine but the  guys doing the work just wanted to use brackets. 5 years later - I need to put in a few dowels now.

[Jenni]

Hi. I'm in the process of organising an oak sleeper edge to my lawn (260mm above patio) similar design to @DarrenP with flat one on the top. 

 

I've hammered meter long unistrut into the ground to secure the sleepers to and plan to also add brackets at the back to join the sleepers together in a line. 

I plan to back fill with shingle then crushed hardcore before final soil and grass seed. 

 

Couple of questions - 

 

Should I be painting on some kind of bitumen paint like @Radian has pictured above? Or use DPC plastic before I back fill?

 

I was thinking of using slotted angle to attach top sleeper to the ones below, but interested in what you've used, and how you've done dowels please.

I'm not keen on putting long hex head screws in a visible location. 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2023 by Jenni
Grammar

[Radian]

6 hours ago, Jenni said:

Or use DPC plastic before I back fill?

I think this may be worse for the timber as it could trap moisture. With a painted on protection, moisture can't get stuck in-between the two surfaces.

[Radian]

Started stripping the topsoil for re-use in the raised beds.

 

 

The plan is to create a perimeter using 125mm deep deck boards to define the plane and serve as screed rails to level the sharp sand fill.

Then after a bit of a whackering, dry lay my reclaimed 450mm concrete slabs leaving two cutouts under the beds.

 

[DarrenP]

On 08/05/2023 at 16:26, Alan Ambrose said:

@DarrenP

 

I like the look of your T design  - nice to be able to use them as seating too.

 

I bought dowels for mine but the  guys doing the work just wanted to use brackets. 5 years later - I need to put in a few dowels now.

 

I had a bit of a nightmare doing the holes, I don't know if it was my drill ( big sds type) but I ended up drilling down with the 16mm auger bit and then used a socket and ratchet to get the auger back out lol gave me a good workout  I would probably do 2 smaller dowel next time than one large on.

[Alan Ambrose]

OK a couple of images of mine, these are oak and so the fasteners are stainless. They're 5-years old now so have gone a silvery colour.

 

I got the suppliers to cut them and figured out the dimensions so they used either whole or 1/2 sleepers - so there was no wastage and no need to cut on site. 

 

Edited May 19, 2023 by Alan Ambrose

[Radian]

Today I changed the plan to make it into a swimming pool  🙄

[Radian]

Almost there now.

 

[Alan Ambrose]

Very nice.