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Are sleepers painted?

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  • 15-06-2020 8:58pm
    #1
    edzers
    Registered Users Posts: 39 ✭


    Hi

    We have a bed made from sleepers which I would like to paint. How do I know if they are treated or not? If they are treated can I paint them with a wood paint? Something like cuprinol? I'd like them a colour as opposed to a stain.

    Thanks

    Edzers


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    #2
    Itssoeasy
    Registered Users Posts: 39,899 ✭✭✭✭Itssoeasy


    edzers wrote: »
    Hi

    We have a bed made from sleepers which I would like to paint. How do I know if they are treated or not? If they are treated can I paint them with a wood paint? Something like cuprinol? I'd like them a colour as opposed to a stain.

    Thanks

    Edzers

    Well if they are old railway sleepers then they would have been treated.


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    #3
    beggars_bush
    Registered Users Posts: 4,499 ✭✭✭beggars_bush


    Most sleepers sold are imitation timber treated to look like sleepers
    Might have creosote in them. Horrible stuff


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    #4
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 7,499 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    beggars_bush wrote: »
    Most sleepers sold are imitation timber treated to look like sleepers
    Might have creosote in them. Horrible stuff

    Yea my mate paid 1000s to some fella to install sleepers ,cut with a chain saw and laid vertically to make beds.
    Couldn't believe it when I went to see it. Just modern sawn timber posts.
    He was absolutely robbed,I'd say they won't last pissing time.


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    #5
    Hocus Focus
    Registered Users Posts: 754 ✭✭✭Hocus Focus


    BrownFinger wrote: »
    Yea my mate paid 1000s to some fella to install sleepers ,cut with a chain saw and laid vertically to make beds.
    Couldn't believe it when I went to see it. Just modern sawn timber posts.
    He was absolutely robbed,I'd say they won't last pissing time.
    It was certainly a bad idea to cut any timber into short lengths and lay vertically, with the end-grain buried in soil, because (a), the soil harbours organisms which will naturally rot the timber ,and (b), rot enters timber mostly through the end grain.
    Genuine railway sleepers will have been prepared for their original use by soaking for a long period in creosote, similarly to traditional wooden telegraph poles. Creosote is now banned as it is carcinogenic, so modern timbers which are represented as "railway sleepers" will have been vacuum-infused with modern wood preservatives similarly to fence posts and other sawn timber sold for outdoor use. They generally seem to be intended for a ten year usage cycle.

    Treated timber like this will not initially accept paint, but needs to be weathered for about six months first.


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