First Time Sleeper Build - Any Tips?

[jholl20]

Hi all,

I'm planning on building my first sleeper pond this month. If you have any tips or advice, that would be greatly appreciated.

My plan is to build it 2.5m (L) x 1.9m (W) x 1-1.2m (D) using 200mm x 100mm treated wooden sleepers, placed on a concrete collar. I already have a small preformed pond and already have a filter, so that will be rested on the capping (ideally 6x2s as cheaper), which you can see in the photos I've attached in my design/plan. To hide the filter, I plan on creating a slatted paneling effect, but could not create this properly on the 3D design website.

My questions are:

- What is the best way/any tips on making a concrete collar?

- If I'm digging down 20-30cm, does my concrete collar need to be that deep?

- I don't plan on using rebar, instead I'll use 250-300mm hex timber screws and heavy duty corner brackets. Will I need to attach the bottom layer of sleepers to the concrete collar? If so, how should I do this?

- Will the 6x2 timber be strong enough to hold my filter, even with me drilling 5 x 40mm holes in it (as shown in the last photo)?

- As the sleepers are pressure treated, can I leave them without coating them?

Thank you in advance for any answers/tips!

 

[j.w]

@jholl20

 

[GBBUDD]

Hi all,

I'm planning on building my first sleeper pond this month. If you have any tips or advice, that would be greatly appreciated.

My plan is to build it 2.5m (L) x 1.9m (W) x 1-1.2m (D) using 200mm x 100mm treated wooden sleepers, placed on a concrete collar. I already have a small preformed pond and already have a filter, so that will be rested on the capping (ideally 6x2s as cheaper), which you can see in the photos I've attached in my design/plan. To hide the filter, I plan on creating a slatted paneling effect, but could not create this properly on the 3D design website.

My questions are:

- What is the best way/any tips on making a concrete collar?

- If I'm digging down 20-30cm, does my concrete collar need to be that deep?

- I don't plan on using rebar, instead I'll use 250-300mm hex timber screws and heavy duty corner brackets. Will I need to attach the bottom layer of sleepers to the concrete collar? If so, how should I do this?

- Will the 6x2 timber be strong enough to hold my filter, even with me drilling 5 x 40mm holes in it (as shown in the last photo)?

- As the sleepers are pressure treated, can I leave them without coating them?

Thank you in advance for any answers/tips!

Hands down you are far better off going with cinderblock and rebar on a concrete footing. It will far surpass a pt pond. Go to you tube and watch how it's done. It's pretty simple I have a couple concrete retaining walls I built around the pond. You can see this in my showcase. A link is in blue below. If your on a phone turn it to landscape and you'll see the links

 

[jholl20]

Hands down you are far better off going with cinderblock and rebar on a concrete footing. It will far surpass a pt pond. Go to you tube and watch how it's done. It's pretty simple I have a couple concrete retaining walls I built around the pond. You can see this in my showcase. A link is in blue below. If your on a phone turn it to landscape and you'll see the links

Thank you. We don't plan on staying where we are for more than 5 years. So the hope is that the sleepers can be dismantled and taken with us when we move, even if used for garden planters in the future rather than a pond at our forever home. In terms of fitting our current garden aesthetics and factoring in my current filter, I think a sleeper pond is our only option.

Your pond is absolutely unbelievable, probably the best I've ever seen!

 

[GBBUDD]

Good luck with your build i would use tec screws but use twice as many as you would with landscape

Thank you, it is an obcession. This build was for me I have built so.much for so many im always tinkering.