Slippery Railway Sleepers

learnerplates

I'm looking for the best way to make railway sleepers unslippy.

I have some steps into the garden made from railway sleepers, they've become very slippery during wet weather, a thin film of greenish slime has formed on them.
Any ideas on how to treat or cover the topside of the sleeper before someone has an accident.

I've been thinking of applying a wood bond and then covering fine sand while dry as a way to make the surface course.
I have no clue how to treat the sleeper itself, which would be the optimal solution. Is there a spray maybe to get rid of the slime?

Wertz

The slime is algal growth on the wood...a fungicidal wash or some bleach sprayed on and left to cure (in dry weather) overnight and then hosed off should solve some of the problem. A penetrating preservative should then be applied (when it's dry) to prevent regrowth.
They used to treat sleepers with creosote to protect them from damp and rot...the residue of this could cause moisture to sit on the surface and the wood could remain slippy even after the algae is gone. There are non-slip coatings on the market but they're really for floors and such...don't know how effective they'd be in your situation...

fintonie

breadsoda is also another good way of getting rid of it,,, it was used in the bygone days to kill moss

Carlow52

learnerplates wrote: »

I'm looking for the best way to make railway sleepers unslippy.

I have some steps into the garden made from railway sleepers, they've become very slippery during wet weather, a thin film of greenish slime has formed on them.
Any ideas on how to treat or cover the topside of the sleeper before someone has an accident.

I've been thinking of applying a wood bond and then covering fine sand while dry as a way to make the surface course.
I have no clue how to treat the sleeper itself, which would be the optimal solution. Is there a spray maybe to get rid of the slime?

Staple, (using a stapler for stapling alarm cables: the staples are stainless steel) expanded metal on them: the grip is fantastic.

A lesser solution is chicken wire.

Ps
this solution is used widely around our national parks: eg on part of the Wicklow way and also up at Giant Causeway and Newgrange, so its proven, maintenance free..
I have the expanded metal on parts of my own deck. My 80+ year old in laws have no issue with using the deck 365. [at 80+ am not going to say 24/7:) ]/

10-10-20

I brushed mine with a wire-brush.
It breaks up the surface and gives grip.
I did it back in January and despite the bad weather, it's not been slippy since.

learnerplates

Thanks for the responses.
I'll try the bleach/or breadsoda solution an then maybe the wire brush afterwards.

Stables maybe after if the above don't work but the steps are each 6ft wide, and 5 of them.

Thanks again.

learnerplates

The bleach and wire brush has worked a treat and I'm pleased to say it only took about half hr to scrub clean with the wire brush once the bleach was rubbed in.
I mixed a basin of water with a full bottle of bleach, rubbed in about half the basin into the sleepers with some clothes.
Then scrubbed off most of the slime off with the wire brush. And again washed down with the remainder of the bleach.
After one day it was unslippery, even after a big days rain yesterday.

Thanks again.

LogMeOut

Hi,

Since it's about 2 years since the last entry in this thread, I was wondering how long the wire brush + bleach option lasted? How many times per year do you have to do this to keep them safe?

I was thinking about loading up my power hose with a bleach mix and blasting it into them while roughing them up at the same time. Does anyone spot any pitfalls I haven't thought of with this idea?

patff

LogMeOut wrote: »

Hi,

Since it's about 2 years since the last entry in this thread, I was wondering how long the wire brush + bleach option lasted? How many times per year do you have to do this to keep them safe?

I was thinking about loading up my power hose with a bleach mix and blasting it into them while roughing them up at the same time. Does anyone spot any pitfalls I haven't thought of with this idea?

pitfalls, yeah, you're gonna have vapourised bleach floating around.............not good for you or anything organic close by. But your sleepers should look nice.

learnerplates

LogMeOut wrote: »

Hi,

Since it's about 2 years since the last entry in this thread, I was wondering how long the wire brush + bleach option lasted? How many times per year do you have to do this to keep them safe?

I was thinking about loading up my power hose with a bleach mix and blasting it into them while roughing them up at the same time. Does anyone spot any pitfalls I haven't thought of with this idea?

2.5 yrs in place now and still good. The bleach and wire brush is an easy piece of work, 10mins per sleeper and there's little spill onto the surrrounting area

LogMeOut

Patff: Thanks for the info. Not so worried about vapourised bleach - have wet gear and mask and it's surrounded by concrete.

To learnerplates:

How many times in the past 2.5 years have you had to do the wire brush + bleach process? Just the once? Or a few times per year?

Cheers for the feedback.

10-10-20

I have not had to repeat the brushing, but perhaps it was a wetter period when I had to do it initially.

learnerplates

LogMeOut wrote: »

Patff: Thanks for the info. Not so worried about vapourised bleach - have wet gear and mask and it's surrounded by concrete.

To learnerplates:

How many times in the past 2.5 years have you had to do the wire brush + bleach process? Just the once? Or a few times per year?

Cheers for the feedback.

just the once. keep it simple, wire brush, bottle of bleach and a bucket of water. Gloves for your hands and an old pair of pants.;)

LogMeOut

Ok. Think I'll give it a go so! Thanks for the advice.