Sleepers, Borders and stuff

Associate
Joined
27 Jan 2017
Posts
36
Location
Manchester
Hi!

We recently purchased a new home which came with the obligatory square, flat garden, and a small patio - area is probably 10m x 10m

At present, all we have is a lawn.

To the right hand side is a brick boundary wall, and to the rear end is another brick wall. There is fencing to the left hand side.

In order to create some borders in which to put some plants, we are thinking about running some sleepers around 900mm from the brick walls.

The sleepers are 100mm x 250mm x 1800mm - we plan to put them so they are effectively 250mm higher than the ground level, and then fill the void with soil and some small plants.

We are going to have a run of 5400mm down one side, and returning 5400mm the other, so effectively 6 sleepers long, but only one high.

My questions are:

a) do we need to make any specific preparation to lay the sleepers onto? can I simply compact the earth below them so it is flat and level with the lawn, or do I need to use some form of packing below - eg balast or sand etc?

b) the plan is to have the sleepers 3 sided (front, left, right) - I will brace them with L shape angles. However - I am unsure if I need to make them 4 sided to contain the soil within, or if I can butt them up against the brickwork wall - if I do that, will I need to fix them to the brickwork? I am concerned they will get bumped or hit when mowing the lawn or similar and the soil gets displaced.

Many thanks in advance.
 
Associate
Joined
6 Feb 2008
Posts
1,750
I think it's a waste of money using a sleeper along the brick wall. From what you're saying, it sounds like you were going to just rest the sleepers on top of the existing lawn? I'd probably cut the grass away (using a half moon lawn edger or a spade), line with sand and sit the sleepers down a little bit. This way, you won't have gaps under the sleepers where the grass meets it. Rather than being 250mm high, they might be more like 220-230mm?
 
Associate
OP
Joined
27 Jan 2017
Posts
36
Location
Manchester
Thanks - I was thinking some form of sand or similar would be wise. Totally agree about setting it a little below grass level

Thanks for your help
 
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