Railroad ties for above ground pond
Manuel Granados, II
I am planning to use railroad ties to construct a 16'x8' pond. The last
tie will be completely covered by the liner overlap with a cedar frame on
top.
Does anyone have any warnings, success stories or alternate suggestions?
The ties seem to be the best and most economical construction material as
long as the creosote is not a problem.
Steve Knight
You can use Plywood and outdoor wood. you can use marked down wood
like I did. I made a frame out of them and use metal corner braces and
them put the wood horizontal to prevent bowout. worked well was easy
to do can cheep. tool only a coupe hours to do.Plus you can make it
come apart and it is more versatile.
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Jan Jordan
>On 30 Sep 1997 17:01:51 GMT, "Manuel Granados, II" <ma...@ccse.net> wrote:
>I am planning to use railroad ties to construct a 16'x8' pond. The last
>tie will be completely covered by the liner overlap with a cedar frame on
>top.
>
>Does anyone have any warnings, success stories or alternate suggestions?
>The ties seem to be the best and most economical construction material as
>long as the creosote is not a problem.
>
Key words: Construction Material
All depends on how the construction material has been treated AND if
the construction material is going to be "at all" in contact with the
water. Otherwise, no problem. Problems arise if you use a wood
preservative and a fountain that can drip on it (windy) and fall back
into pond. Fish will die (or get sickly) when toxicity rate is high
enough, which may take months.
~Keep 'em Wet!~
jan/3-Cities WA Zone 6.5
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T. Postel
>On 30 Sep 1997 17:01:51 GMT, "Manuel Granados, II" <ma...@ccse.net> wrote:
>I am planning to use railroad ties to construct a 16'x8' pond. The last
>tie will be completely covered by the liner overlap with a cedar frame on
>top.
>
>Does anyone have any warnings, success stories or alternate suggestions?
>The ties seem to be the best and most economical construction material as
>long as the creosote is not a problem.
>
I'd use recycled plactic wood for the deck & fence, but that is not cheap,
and concrete blocks instead of treated timbers. Here is why: the railroad
ties stink. Whenever the air is warm or the sun shines on them they smell
like tar. Also, since they were used, they were banged-up & have rotten
places. If you want to be able to tear down your pond, I think those cast
concrete blocks for gravity walls look pretty nice ("Windsor stone"). If
you like permanence then build it out of concrete.
-m
Sunset zone 21 USDA zone 9
Married, wife, children... the whole catastrophe.
-- Alexis Zorba (Zorba the Greek By Nikos Kazantzakis)
Marcy Greeley
Manuel,
We also used railroad ties for the framing of our pond. The railroad
ties were new, pressure-treated wood. At the lumber-yard, we saw lots
of older, "used" railroad ties, the kind treated with creosote, and they
smelled pretty bad, like "tar", very pungent. With the new, pressure
treated railroad ties, we've had no problems at all. Of course, they do
not come into contact with the pond water, and are covered with the EPDM
liner. On the top of the railroad ties, we placed nice redwood beams,
for a nice finished effect that matched our backyard deck and stairway.
You can see a picture of the railroad ties we used at my pond page at:
http://www.netgate.net/~ggreeley/pond.html
best of luck with your pond - I think it'll be fine - just stay away
from chemically treated or creosote-treated railroad ties.
regards,
Marcy
Jody
> >I am planning to use railroad ties to construct a 16'x8' pond. The
> last
> >tie will be completely covered by the liner overlap with a cedar
> frame on top.
> >
> >Does anyone have any warnings, success stories or alternate
> suggestions?
> >The ties seem to be the best and most economical construction
> material as
> >long as the creosote is not a problem.
> >
> again
> I'd use recycled plactic wood for the deck & fence, but that is not
> cheap,
> and concrete blocks instead of treated timbers. Here is why: the
> railroad
> ties stink. Whenever the air is warm or the sun shines on them they
> smell
> like tar. Also, since they were used, they were banged-up & have
> rotten
> places. If you want to be able to tear down your pond, I think those
> cast
> concrete blocks for gravity walls look pretty nice ("Windsor stone").
> If
> you like permanence then build it out of concrete.
> -m
>
> Sunset zone 21 USDA zone 9
> Married, wife, children... the whole catastrophe.
> -- Alexis Zorba (Zorba the Greek By Nikos Kazantzakis)
There are also several companies that make precast concrete railroad
ties....
Great for retaining walls, etc...
Urdl's does... I just wouldn't want to think about the shipping
costs.
--
"I married Miss Right. I just didn't know her first name was Always"
*** Jody Morton *** http://www.urdls.com/jody.htm
Mailto:Webm...@urdls.com
Jody's Java Chat --> http://206.250.78.195/jody/index.html
Steven
Well, I have been researching pond liners and supports for a bridge that
I plan to have over the pond. I considered creosote treated railroad
ties for bridge supports OUTSIDE the pond(but in contact with the pond
liner(EDPM) and it turns out that the creosote will deteriorate the
rubber very quickly. So I would make sure that you COMPLETELY cover the
railroad ties with something appropriate where there could be contact
with the liner and then put the liner on that. Hope this helps.
Take care.
Steven_MD
--
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and the right most valued by a free people."
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Goldfish
> ... So I would make sure that you COMPLETELY cover the
> railroad ties with something appropriate where there could be contact
> with the liner and then put the liner on that. Hope this helps.
And don't put them where water will wash over them into the pond
when it rains! Creosote adn fishies don't mix!
--
Signed- Kellie USDA zone 7/8, Sunset Zone 33
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