Raised Sleeper Beds - Design Query

[oppty67]

Hey Folks,

I'm thinking about building some raised beds from sleepers. Our fence is less than 5 years old, and I was thinking to save cost, can I just line the fence appropriately and use that as the back side of the structure? They'd be for some decorative plants, nothing too heavy, so not overly concerned about stress on the fence.

They'd not be very wide, but just wondering if this is 'the done thing'

Thanks

 

[oneeye]

Remember that the beds will need to be filled up with garden soil and not potting mix since they are outdoors. .

 

[Oliver Buckle]

can I just line the fence appropriately

That is a little indefinite, I put a two by two across between the fence posts and stood blocks up against it, seems to be keeping the earth off the fence, but by the time you have done that you might as well put a sleeper there. It needs to maintain an ait gap between the bed and the fence to stop it rotting.

 

[oppty67]

Thanks - Yeah I've decided to go with the extra sleepers and keep that airgap. Seems the sensible approach for the longer term.

 

[DirtMechanic]

How to maintain is always the answer. It does not matter. Space stations, wives, fences. Good choice.

 

[Mr_Yan]

Good choice oppty67.

I did a raised bed where one side was a fence. This bed was about 2' deep which is a lot of soil and soil puts a lot of stress on the fence.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

soil puts a lot of stress on the fence

That surprises me a bit, my next door neighbour has done it and it has rotted the bottom of the fence, but it hasn't come my way. I assumed the weight was just downward.

 

[Mr_Yan]

Now you have me thinking there @Oliver Buckle. I've been doing raised beds for my garden for 15 years now. And I've built quite a few as my family grew and we moved from house A to house B or while helping friends. Because of standard lumber stock I have almost always used 2x stock (1.75" thick) for the frame or for the whole. But even when I do a light weight framing with a thin panel material I don't remember any of them bowing out because of the dirt weight.

At my old house I did a deep raised bed along a fence and I had to rebuild the fence at the same time. Here I did a full 2x rail where the soil was then lined it with foam insulation thinking that would help the dirt not cause the fence to rot out. The front was then a white painted 2x4 frame with corrugated steel panels.

Now at my "new garden" I'm in my third season and have been building beds out of corrugated metal roofing with a 2x3 rim around the top. The roofing is very thin and easily bends in one direction but the corrugations remain ridged (just think of playing with a cardboard box).

I think you're right and a much thinner panel can be used but there will be a cost to it.

• Rot through time will greatly increase with the thinner material.
• Construction will become more complicated for anything more than, say, 10 inches tall.

I guess we mostly default to using 2x material because it is a standard dimensional lumber readily available and we can quickly describe how to make a box out of it. I don't feel confident typing to someone on the interwebs how to build these metal panel beds or beds with a tile backer-board panel.

 

[Tetters]

@oppty67 May I ask, are your sleepers the new ones, or the older jobs with tar in them? If they are the tarry ones from the railway, they will need really sturdy liners to keep the plants and the tar well apart. Putting the extra ones at the back of the bed is certainly worth the extra investment!