Railway sleeper level to grass or level to spirit level

Paul11 · 21 May 2017 at 17:30

im just about to install railway sleepers along the grass to form raised beds

the grass slopes gently down from top of garden to the bottom, its not huge but there none the less.

should i run the sleepers to be level to the grass ie sloping

or should i run the sleepers straight on the spirit level , in which case one end of the garden the sleeper will be dug further in to the ground and look thinner than the other end ?

SupraWez · 21 May 2017 at 17:33

I would do level with spirit level.

BurningHorizons · 21 May 2017 at 19:02

Spirit level.

mickyflinn · 21 May 2017 at 20:25

A picture would help, what sort of distance is it ?

Paul11 · 21 May 2017 at 20:33

ill get a photo, its not a huge slope, very slight.. over about 35 ft

MassiveJim · 22 May 2017 at 01:22

spirit level every time.

I did mind to a spirit level and as it was not a huge distance I just buried part of one length of timber in the ground

Amp34 · 22 May 2017 at 02:02

Probably depends on what look you're going for and what the slope is. If it's an inch or two over 35 ft then it's unlikely to matter either way, but if it's a fair amount (say more than the thickness of the sleeper or two) then stepping down may look good. In between then personal preference and what your work for the sleepers is.

When I did my edges with blocks I did a mix of both. One part with only a very gentle slope is sloped with the grass, but another part with a more pronounced slope is stepped down.

Mark M · 22 May 2017 at 11:49

I would try and measure the slope first as you might be surprised just how much work is involved to install them spirit level straight. We did it at my old mans and we both thought it was "only a few mil drop" but it was a lot more than what we thought and had to buy 2 additional sleepers to compensate for the drop!

Paul11 · 22 May 2017 at 12:16

im going to go out and measure now , i dont think its a big drop (if any) my only concern is the sleeper at one end getting buried in the soil and hardly showing

could have really done with a mini digger

Mark M · 22 May 2017 at 12:23

Yeah thats exactly what happened to us so we had to raise the front up with another sleeper (most of which was buried) to get it level or it would have looked daft.

Paul11 · 22 May 2017 at 13:21

here are a few pics

Paul11 · 22 May 2017 at 13:23

few questions:

1) what do i do about those tree roots, just cut them best i can and then ignore them?

2) should i put any shingle/ sand under the sleepers?

3) what is the best type of soil to order ?

Glanza · 22 May 2017 at 13:24

Spirit level will look better.

MassiveJim · 22 May 2017 at 13:26

You can "step" the bottom if you are burying sleepers in the floor, so that it looks like the line of sleepers carries on when it actual fact it just stops when the first sleeper becomes level with the ground.

Paul11 · 22 May 2017 at 13:34

my only concern now is , goign down the garden (length) , ill spirit level them. but where they meet the ones going across i assume they need to meet at the same height ?

here is the path i want to take

Paul11 · 22 May 2017 at 13:35

MassiveJim said:
You can "step" the bottom if you are burying sleepers in the floor, so that it looks like the line of sleepers carries on when it actual fact it just stops when the first sleeper becomes level with the ground.

im not sure im following that ?

Mark M · 22 May 2017 at 15:19

He means to keep them flat but to "step" them down with the slope of the garden so you dont end up with 3 high at the bottom of the garden. There are different ways to doing it but I would start at the bottom (bottom left of your last photo) and then when you reach a point that the sleeper is "disappearing" into the ground put the next one of top of it a little further back.

I used a bed of sand for the ones I fitted and seems to also act well with drainage.

Paul11 · 22 May 2017 at 15:30

ahhh got you ..! that makes sense, thanks

Entropy · 24 May 2017 at 20:20

I would personally level them to the fence which should hopefully be levelled to a spirit level but may not be. Two hard edges that are not level will make one of them really stand out. Looking at the photos again your fence doesn't look stepped so i would imagine it is levelled with the ground.

Paul11 · 25 May 2017 at 07:26

i have some fence boards to run along the bottom of the fence, i think i got it now. to get the sleepers level.

ill try to take some photos later.