Paving onto of sleepers

[seanham]

Hi all,

After some advice... I have a raised patio flagged with Indian stone. Whole base is with MOT and full bed of cement. However the edge of the patio is laid on top of treated sleepers where the flags over hang by an inch, abit like with steps.

At the time thought it was a good idea instead of doing a block wall or brick due to having the foundation etc...

 

However concerned with how long the sleepers will last, does anyone have any experience with this? Is it worth cladding the face of sleepers or would that cause more problems such as water being trapped ect 

 

Cheers in advance 

 

[Carrerahill]

34 minutes ago, seanham said:

Hi all,

After some advice... I have a raised patio flagged with Indian stone. Whole base is with MOT and full bed of cement. However the edge of the patio is laid on top of treated sleepers where the flags over hang by an inch, abit like with steps.

At the time thought it was a good idea instead of doing a block wall or brick due to having the foundation etc...

 

However concerned with how long the sleepers will last, does anyone have any experience with this? Is it worth cladding the face of sleepers or would that cause more problems such as water being trapped ect 

 

Cheers in advance 

 

It would probably cause more issues.

 

The key question is how wet are they getting, if they are sitting on sub base, and the slabs are pointed up with mortar then the only bit that might ever really get wet is the face, which will then air dry. So they might be sitting soaking wet, in which case they will rot out in 6-10 years (depends on grade of timber and treatment, old railway sleepers were bombproof, but the new "sleepers" aimed at landscape use are wimpy things), or they will be sitting pretty much dry and could last 50. 

[Radian]

9 hours ago, seanham said:

At the time thought it was a good idea instead of doing a block wall or brick due to having the foundation etc...

So what 'foundation' do the timbers sit on?