These ties should work as to raise up the greenhouse. Do I need to ANCHORS them? They each weigh 2 to 300 lbs a piece. Greenhouse will be used to grow things in pots, not in-ground.
Assuming you have the ground well-packed and your greenhouse will have a non-porous covering, looks good. Maybe runoff from the roof on the sides may erode the foundation? I might do a couple 4×4 posts vertical in concrete and lag bolted to the ties, but that might be overkill.
Jonesetta
I’m a carpenter and a former freight train conductor. I wouldn’t use railway ties in any form of construction, the very last application would be in a food producing greenhouse. If you’re growing flowers then go nuts but railway ties are notorious for leeching terrible industrial chemicals back out for years after they come off of the railway. Any number of carcinogens will get in your soil, then your food, then in you. Be careful with railways ties. Unless they weren’t actually used and just sat in a pile for a few years before being repurposed. Even then I’d be sketched out.
SmeesTurkeyLeg
For the love of god don’t. The amount of creosote in those things will poison everything you try to grow in it.
t0mt0mt0m
Your fine. If industrial commercial greenhouses use horse stall mats, you’re good if you are growing in containers.
GroundbreakingEar667
The amount of money you save by using them instead of buying the lumber (or going with another option) is not worth it. You risk your health, the soil underneath and around it, and many other potential unseen problems that could/would arise by using those in a residential area.
Grouchy_Setting
Those bad boys are going to leach chemicals into the soil around your greenhouse and into any soil it touches in your greenhouse. And what it doesn’t go into the soil is going to offgas into your greenhouse. A Creosote hotbox is not something you want to hang out in…..Long-term exposure to creosote has been shown to increase cancer in several tissues, including the respiratory tract, skin, lung, pancreas, kidney, scrotum, prostate, rectum, bladder, and central nervous system…. Not something to have anywhere around anything.
nareikellok
Creosote is becoming illegal many places.
That shit can poison the soil for decades, think ahead friend! Someone might want to grow food there in the future.
56KandFalling
Railroad ties are usually not safe for use near any food production due to the heavy metals and chemicals they’ve soaked up over the years.
You may not want to grow in the ground right now, but you might want to later and no matter what it’s not a great idea to have all that dangerous stuff leaching into the ground where kids might be playing and other people growing food in the future.
RubMyPlumbus
You should not put any of those ties anywhere near your garden, they are full of harmful chemicals.
lasvegashal
OP are you listening to anything anybody says and then you double down saying you’re gonna drill down in and anchor it with some crappy rebar bro bro are you a Republican?
lasvegashal
Just spend a few bucks and fix it or you just cheap
galb811
We used ties and anchored the greenhouse to them. Worked beautifully
boosted_b5awd
Sounds like a bad idea if I’m being honest. Use a naturally rot resistant material like cedar instead of something soaked in a known carcinogen
diavirric
If they’re old enough they won’t be a problem. I just made some raised beds with RR ties that are at least 50 years old and they have no creosote odor. Out of an abundance of caution I wrapped the bottom and soil-facing side in heavy black plastic.
Background_Wear_1074
I have a small 10 x 13 greenhouse with grow beds that are half in ground and half above ground. I used 6″ x 8″ picky cedar landscape timbers which are not treated but are much more expensive that railroad ties. We get very high winds here in southern Utah in the spring so I drill holes at at an angle through the timbers and inserted 4 ft pieces of 1/2 inch rebar. The greenhouse is anchored with metal straps connected to the timbers. My greenhouse is a Sungrow Urban which has an arch shape which sheds wind better than a vertical side.
15 Comments
Assuming you have the ground well-packed and your greenhouse will have a non-porous covering, looks good. Maybe runoff from the roof on the sides may erode the foundation? I might do a couple 4×4 posts vertical in concrete and lag bolted to the ties, but that might be overkill.
I’m a carpenter and a former freight train conductor. I wouldn’t use railway ties in any form of construction, the very last application would be in a food producing greenhouse. If you’re growing flowers then go nuts but railway ties are notorious for leeching terrible industrial chemicals back out for years after they come off of the railway. Any number of carcinogens will get in your soil, then your food, then in you. Be careful with railways ties. Unless they weren’t actually used and just sat in a pile for a few years before being repurposed. Even then I’d be sketched out.
For the love of god don’t. The amount of creosote in those things will poison everything you try to grow in it.
Your fine. If industrial commercial greenhouses use horse stall mats, you’re good if you are growing in containers.
The amount of money you save by using them instead of buying the lumber (or going with another option) is not worth it. You risk your health, the soil underneath and around it, and many other potential unseen problems that could/would arise by using those in a residential area.
Those bad boys are going to leach chemicals into the soil around your greenhouse and into any soil it touches in your greenhouse. And what it doesn’t go into the soil is going to offgas into your greenhouse. A Creosote hotbox is not something you want to hang out in…..Long-term exposure to creosote has been shown to increase cancer in several tissues, including the respiratory tract, skin, lung, pancreas, kidney, scrotum, prostate, rectum, bladder, and central nervous system…. Not something to have anywhere around anything.
Creosote is becoming illegal many places.
That shit can poison the soil for decades, think ahead friend! Someone might want to grow food there in the future.
Railroad ties are usually not safe for use near any food production due to the heavy metals and chemicals they’ve soaked up over the years.
You may not want to grow in the ground right now, but you might want to later and no matter what it’s not a great idea to have all that dangerous stuff leaching into the ground where kids might be playing and other people growing food in the future.
You should not put any of those ties anywhere near your garden, they are full of harmful chemicals.
OP are you listening to anything anybody says and then you double down saying you’re gonna drill down in and anchor it with some crappy rebar bro bro are you a Republican?
Just spend a few bucks and fix it or you just cheap
We used ties and anchored the greenhouse to them. Worked beautifully
Sounds like a bad idea if I’m being honest. Use a naturally rot resistant material like cedar instead of something soaked in a known carcinogen
If they’re old enough they won’t be a problem. I just made some raised beds with RR ties that are at least 50 years old and they have no creosote odor. Out of an abundance of caution I wrapped the bottom and soil-facing side in heavy black plastic.
I have a small 10 x 13 greenhouse with grow beds that are half in ground and half above ground. I used 6″ x 8″ picky cedar landscape timbers which are not treated but are much more expensive that railroad ties. We get very high winds here in southern Utah in the spring so I drill holes at at an angle through the timbers and inserted 4 ft pieces of 1/2 inch rebar. The greenhouse is anchored with metal straps connected to the timbers. My greenhouse is a Sungrow Urban which has an arch shape which sheds wind better than a vertical side.