Scaffold board or alternative for raised beds - Bristol

[mikeh]

Hello

First off, if this is in the wrong place apologies, feel free to move it.

I want to build some raised beds next to the greenhouse which is on a concrete slab, 4 levels up in our epic 6 level sloped garden. The bed would thus serve as a wall too.

I've looked on a great local wood recycling project website for scaffolding plans and they have 3.9m planks for £12 (other lengths too). To build two beds, 1 at 4m x 0.5 x 0.6 high and another about 2m x 1 x 0.6 high is about £140 worth of planks. Does this sound reasonable? I know its a lot of wood!

If anyone is Bristol based and has tip off re companies getting rid of planks please share, I've not had any luck so far.

Cheers

[Pa Snips]

I just had a look on Wickes' website...they have 3.6m decking planks for £7.85
They would make a very pretty raised bed, I'm sure.

[super trowel]

You could go for that,
as I got new boards from jewsons and they were £15 each.

I am sure if you did want to get them new, if you go to different builders merchant.
You could probably get them cheaper

Other then that, you could get some railway sleepers.
Either use them whole or you could slice them length ways.
So you get two for one
Last time I bought one of these, they were around £25 each

Sorry if this doesn't really help

[veggiechicken]

I used old decking planks - sometimes available on Freecycle. Mine doesn't have to look pretty!

[biggreenfingers]

I built raised beds with scaffolding planks a few years ago but they are very porous and soak up a lot of water and therefore prone to rotting more quickly than other wood. To be fair they weren't brand new but ones that a builder did not want and allowed me to take. I will have to replace mine very soon and will probably go for railway sleepers this time

[Bigmallly]

Welcome to the vine Mike. Does this help?

Scaffolding near*Bristol *» Yell.com

[Pa Snips]

I used old decking planks - sometimes available on Freecycle. Mine doesn't have to look pretty!
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They look beautifully rustic.

I just used old pallets.

[veggiechicken]

Lots of railway sleepers in this garden too - about 150!! Very heavy to move and somewhat tacky when the sun shines on them. I know because today I sat on one and stuck! Mine were lined with membrane to stop the creosote leaching out into the soil.
It depends on what height you need to raise them. One or two sleepers horizontally can be freestanding but any more than that would need footings (I would think). All of mine were set in concrete because they were retaining so much soil.
NB I'm not a builder - just watched and wrote the cheques!

[Two_Sheds]

Our old site had a lorry load of old/condemned scaffold planks delivered: we were charged £1 per plank

[mikeh]

Cheers all, really good responses! V interesting point re porous nature.

Supertrowel - how did you cut through them, surely that took ages!?

[Potstubsdustbins]

Before deciding to use old railway sleepers I would do some research in the days of yore they were soaked in creosote.

On June the 30th 2003 EEC & British Law ruled that used creosoted railway sleepers should NOT be used where there is,

(a) risk of frequent skin contact.

(b) Where they come into contact with food stuffs

You are also supposed to wear gloves and a dust mask when working with them.

There are other bits but it the two bits above that interest us. Creosote contains Benzopyrene a carcinogen. And before you ask VC I am sorry but if yours are as sticky as you say then yes they are the naughty ones.

Sleepers tannalised to BS4072 are considered safe.

Colin

[veggiechicken]

I do like something naughty in the garden, Potty!
Some of them have a tag on saying not to be sold in Ireland - but I've never quite understood why!

[Potstubsdustbins]

Nope thats a new one on me to. Maybe one of our Irish grapes could help.

Colin

[veggiechicken]

At great personal risk, I've just ventured outside looking for some of those tags - but couldn't spot any! When you're stuck for something to talk about to visitors, its always useful to have something like those tags. I know, I need to get a life

[Curlykale]

I rang round our local scaffolding companies asking whether they had any old planks they didn't want, and luckily found one who said I could just help myself. I think we got about 50 planks and they wouldn't take a penny! (They even gave us some old debris netting too). Some of the planks were going a bit rotten at the ends, but we just cut those up and used them for the smaller sides of the beds, and we had to remove metal from the ends of most of them, but considering they didn't cost us anything we weren't complaining! That was three years ago and they are still going strong.