DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi

I am just in the process of designing my garden and have opted to use sleepers throughout from containing baorders to retaining soil.

The retaining walls will be 7 meters long and 0.8m high.

I want the sleepers to remain as new looking as possible so staining may be
required.

I know that Pine will have 4 straight edges which will help when stacking and are also lighter.

The questions i have is which sleepers would you use Oak or Pine for the retaining wall?

Can you stain Oak once it has weathered into its silver/grey form?

I need to order over 150 so the price difference between a hardwood and softwood is key, however i want to make the right decision for the long term.

Thanks

Sid

captainsid,
Oak will last a lot longer but will still rot in time no matter how you treat the timber. Avoid softwood.
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