House made of sleepers: harmful or not, how to build it yourself

Construction technology

The time has come to directly consider the sequence of actions for constructing a bathhouse from sleepers.
It is worth following a number of suggested recommendations:

First of all, we purchase the material. To build a bathhouse, you will need to purchase about a hundred high-quality, that is, strong, sleepers.
After laying the foundation and its subsequent hardening, we lay a waterproofing layer. To do this, the surface of the concrete is lubricated with liquid bitumen mastic, and two layers of roofing material are laid on top.
Now the starting ring of sleepers is being laid. The first row should be laid on slats, thanks to which the sleepers will not touch the foundation.
Each subsequent row of sleepers is fastened to the previous one by means of a tenon joint. The gap between the first row and the foundation is filled with construction (installation) foam.
Insulation is laid on top of the first crown, which can be tow, moss, jute, and other materials that are usually used as caulking for a log house.
The subsequent crown is laid on the insulation. Fastening is used using the “groove-tenon” method, but experts advise resorting to an additional dowel connection. This is done by cutting holes in the sleepers at opposite ends for attaching dowels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQIXzEroi_k

Finally

Before starting construction, it is necessary to select sleepers suitable for work by sorting them. To do this, remove material that has deep cracks or other significant defects on the surface. If there is minor damage, sleepers can be used to lay the first crown.

Bathhouse from sleepers: building a steam room from cheap raw materials

As a full-fledged structure, a bathhouse made of sleepers has always caused heated debate: on the one hand, processed wood in the form of a massive beam is excellent for constructing an object.

But opponents of this idea emphasize that the chemicals used in the conservation and protection of raw materials are very toxic, and inhaling their hot vapors will negatively affect health.

Whether their impact is harmful or not, many still decide to build a bathhouse from such material.

Pros and cons of a sleeper bath

When deciding whether it is possible to build a bathhouse from sleepers, they first of all take into account the possible consequences for well-being, and also evaluate the potential benefits from the purchase of this raw material.

Positive aspects of the solution:

the material is characterized by extremely low cost; used lots are sold for 12-15% of the prices for new products;
long service life. If you assemble a bathhouse box from ten-year-old sleepers, the structure will last at least another 15-20 years. Such blanks are practically not subject to rotting, microorganisms do not multiply in them, and are resistant to insects, pathogenic microflora, and rodents.

The service life of the box is determined by such factors as the type of foundation used, the usefulness of the external and internal finishing. Moreover, when selecting material, it is important to take into account the actual conditions of the site.

The disadvantages should not be overlooked:

If you neglect the essence and quality of raw materials, there is a high risk of damage from phenol and creosote vapors. When sleeping structures are heated, volatile toxic carcinogenic substances are released, which often cause the development of oncology;
the structure will be a fire hazard due to the high flammability of sleepers. It is impossible to completely saturate raw materials with protective fire retardants, since the surface pores are already filled with flammable creosote.

These problems can be overcome on your own, but the introduction of additional insulating and sanitizing materials leads to a significant increase in the cost of the structure.

Material selection criteria

The optimal material for building a bathhouse from sleepers with your own hands is new unprocessed blanks. Massive molded timber made of fir or larch is ideal; clean, unimpregnated wood is safe for health.

There are also products made from industrial pine. But the selling price of this solution is practically not inferior to the cost of a traditional log or timber.

Despite significant financial investments, sleeping baths attract people with their comfort, safety, and beautiful appearance.

If treated sleepers are still a priority, the following factors should be taken into account when choosing them:

Only solid beams that do not have chips, cracks, or areas with putrefactive debris are used. The optimal age of wood is no more than 10 years;
The cheese needs to be tapped with a hammer. Hidden defects will be evidenced by dull sounds; ideally, the wood should produce high, harsh tones;
Fir and deciduous blanks are best suited; spruce and pine are more often used for the construction of fences and sheds.

Impregnation of pine and birch sleepers with a phenol-creosote mixture is carried out under high pressure, as a result of which the chemicals reach the deep layers of the wood; under such conditions, toxic compounds will be active even after 20 years. Fir and larch woods are denser; they absorb the protective mixture by no more than 5-7 mm, so you should give preference to them.

When deciding how to build a bathhouse from sleepers, keep in mind that you will need at least a hundred pieces. Products with shallow impregnation, which have been in use for 5-7 years, cost about a quarter more than ten-year-old batches, but it is precisely these blocks that are best used for the construction of a bathhouse:

the structure of the wood differs only slightly from clean blanks, especially if there are no damages or cracks;
The protective impregnation is concentrated on the surface, its concentration in the thickness of the wood is extremely small.

Pine sleepers for baths

The raw materials look presentable; often this design is left without external finishing.

To minimize creosote impregnation, a layer is cut off the three sides of the sleeper and its ends with a powerful circular saw so that clear wood is exposed.

The sleepers are placed in a box so that the fourth side remains facing the street; over time, under the influence of precipitation and wind, the impregnation will erode.

Subtleties of choosing and creating a foundation

To equip a full-size standard structure, it is recommended to implement a shallow shallow base. If you are planning a foundation of sleepers for a bathhouse, you need to take care of high-quality comprehensive waterproofing of the lower crowns of the walls.

In the process of creating the foundation and base of the sleeper box, the following additional measures are desirable:

arrangement of vents - these holes provided in the concrete strip allow excess moisture to be naturally removed;
as the first crown is formed, it is necessary to treat all mating surfaces with high-quality waterproofing mastic;
It is recommended to lay out the next couple of rows from sleepers with an uncut protective layer.

Compared to traditional timber baths, in which the lower segment begins to deteriorate after 4-5 years of use, sleepers are more durable - the basic crowns last 15 years even in very wet soil.

Care must be taken, since the use of processed used blanks for the base and foundation can lead to unpleasant consequences. Phenol and creosote are susceptible to leaching; they are transferred by moisture into the soil, where they spread and enter the room along with evaporation. To reduce this effect, thick waterproofing and insulation are used.

Foundation for a bathhouse made of sleepers

If the soil on the site is oversaturated with water, in areas with frequent flooding by rain and melt flows, a pile foundation is used for a bathhouse.

A sleeper box is clearly heavier than a panel or frame box, so 1-2 sleepers, divided in half, are used for supports. The blanks are tied together with wire, impregnated with bitumen or resin, and fixed in pits.

The strapping is made from spliced sleepers and roofing felt.

Technology and stages of constructing a bathhouse from sleepers

At the preparatory stage, the material is sorted: the smoothest and cleanest sleepers will be used first, and the walls are assembled from them. From part of the timber you can create a facing material - an analogue of a tongue and groove board. Those beams that are most heavily impregnated with chemicals are used for the base - foundation and lower crowns.

Formation of walls

The technology for assembling the walls is similar to laying conventional timber; here, steel brackets are driven in every 3-4 rows to connect the crowns. The joints are laid with dried moss, flax, and jute. Corners are cut using the “half-tree” method, alternating opposite directions.

Ceiling and roof assembly

In the case of a compact bath, the ceiling beams are placed simultaneously with the last 2 crowns. The overlap is formed from the cleanest sleepers divided in two. The pairs are spliced into a long piece that will cross the ceiling.

The rafters for the roof are formed and connected on the ground, then raised in pairs to the upper segment of the walls and cut into the last crown. At the same time, the sheathing is filled and covered with roofing felt. The structure must overwinter in this form for complete shrinkage to occur.

As you move on to finishing work, you need to take care of packing and embossing the connecting sections with jute tow. Next, you need to cut and lay the floors inside the rest room, dressing room, and steam room. At the final stage, door and window openings are formed and frames are inserted. After the door is hung, you can begin finishing the interior surfaces.

The covering of the ceiling is done from the inside of the dressing room and steam room; at the same stage, hydro- and thermal insulation is laid.

Nuances of finishing work

The use of additional external and internal materials helps extend the life of the structure and minimize the spread of toxic chemicals.

Exterior finishing

Despite the fact that the workpieces are coated with creosote, many treat them with an antiseptic and also use a fire-fighting solution. The facade can be covered with drying oil, stain, or varnish to prevent the material from swelling under the influence of moisture. If desired, the bathhouse is lined with a house block, siding, or clapboard.

Installation of windows and doors

Foundation waterproofing
The gap between the equipped foundation and the laid sleepers must be isolated from

moisture. This is achieved by pouring molten bitumen onto the foundation base and then laying roofing felt. Another layer is laid in a similar way after the bitumen has completely hardened.

Construction of bathhouse windows and doors from sleepers

Doorways can be made both during the construction of a building and after its completion. Due to lower labor costs, you should give preference to the second method: you just need to cut out the necessary holes in the finished log house using a chainsaw.

When deciding to install door frames during construction, prepare for a complex process and take into account possible shrinkage of the finished structure. At the same time, built-in boxes can cause its unevenness, and this in turn may require additional repairs.

Sleeper bath: harmful or not, reviews, photos

The construction of a bathhouse from sleepers has always been the subject of numerous disputes and discussions. On the one hand, solid timber made from treated wood is ideal as a building material. On the other hand, the use of toxic chemicals for processing and preserving wood can negatively affect the health of bathhouse owners.

We evaluate negative and positive qualities

A competent owner, before building a bathhouse from sleepers, will try to obtain as much information as possible from available sources. First of all, find out how seriously a bathhouse made of sleepers affects your health, whether it is harmful or not.

The positive aspects of the option of building a bathhouse from sleepers with your own hands include the following:

Extremely low price for the material; used sleepers can be purchased for 12-15% of the cost of a new product. On average, the price for model A-1, with a cross-section of 25x18 cm, ranges from $2 per piece;
Long service life, a ten-year sleeper in a bathhouse box will easily last another 15-20 years. They practically do not rot, are not affected by microorganisms and pathogenic microflora, insects, and rodents.

The durability of the bathhouse box largely depends on how to make a bathhouse from sleepers, what kind of foundation and finishing design is planned to be used when arranging the room.

The second condition is the quality of the material. Therefore, the design of a bathhouse made of sleepers, the method of constructing any sleeper buildings, is chosen based on the actual conditions on the ground and the quality of the purchased material.

Advice! You should not completely trust reviews of bathhouses made from sleepers published by the owners of buildings. Only a few percent of respondents give an objective assessment of the emerging problems.

Negatives of building a sleeper bath from ten-year-old sleepers:

Possibility of poisoning by vapors of creosote, phenol. Under the influence of heat, flying sleeper structures intensively release carcinogenic substances that provoke the development of oncology;
High flammability of the sleeper box of the bathhouse. It is no longer possible to saturate the sleeper with fire retardants; the surface layer of flammable creosote interferes. And sleeper baths burn several times more often.

It is quite possible to cope with both problems, but their solution involves the use of additional sanitizing finishes and insulating materials, which can lead to a significant increase in the cost of building a bathhouse.

Decision-making

It is clear that the best option would be to build from new raw materials.

A massive sleeper beam made of larch or fir is ideal, since the wood is still clean, and good quality industrial wood is used for products - larch, fir, and sometimes pine.

Thanks to the pure wood, a new, self-built bathhouse made from sleepers, photo, is practically no different in appearance from a house made of timber.

But before planning how to build a bathhouse from such sleepers with your own hands, it is worth asking about their selling price; it is only slightly less than the price tag for timber and logs. But such a sleeper bathhouse is not inferior to classic timber log houses either in appearance, or in safety and comfort.

If, for certain reasons, it is necessary to build a bathhouse from treated sleepers, then you need to pay special attention to the process of choosing the material:

For construction, solid beams are used, no older than ten years, without cracks, chips and traces of putrefactive wood;
When tapped with a hammer, the sleeper wood should produce a sharp, almost high-pitched sound, without dull tones indicating internal defects;
To build a bathhouse, you need to look for larch or fir; it doesn’t make sense to take pine or fir for a wooden building; such material is suitable for building a shed or fencing a site.

Birch or pine sleepers are often treated with a phenol-creosote mixture in high-pressure chambers. Impregnation penetrates very deeply into the wood.

Such a sleeper will disappear from toxic compounds in twenty years, not earlier.

In sleeper arrays made of larch and fir, due to the dense structure, the mixture penetrates into the thickness by a maximum of 5-7 mm, so this type of sleeper, like no other, is suitable for building a bathhouse with your own hands.

To build a bathhouse from medium-sized sleepers, you will need at least a hundred full-size sleeper beams. In total, a set of sleepers to build a bathhouse box will cost $300-350.

How to properly build a bathhouse from sleeper scraps

There are quite a lot of options for constructing sleeper buildings. Most often, untreated sleepers are laid out on a strip concrete foundation, with a reinforced waterproofing layer of mastic or roofing felt. The further process of erecting the walls of the bathhouse completely depends on the budget.

The simplest version of a black bath made from untreated sleepers

As a rule, to the average individual developer, sleeper factories offer at a reasonable price only scraps - short pieces, the remains of unprocessed sleepers, 120-200 cm long. The weight of one piece instead of the standard 70 kg is only 35 kg, which is very convenient, especially if the room is being built with your own hands , and even alone.

The material undergoes factory drying and primary impregnation, with the help of which soluble compounds are washed out of the wood. This type of sleeper does not shrink, so the gaps for drying out are minimal.

In the simplest case, you can simply build a bathhouse from sleepers on a concrete strip with your own hands. The steam room is very small, so in order not to bother with laying insulation on the walls, it is enough to cover the inner and outer surfaces of the walls with clapboard on the sheathing. Due to the two air gaps and the characteristics of sleeper walls and partitions, an acceptable level of thermal insulation is achieved.

Of course, it is not easy to heat such a bathhouse from sleepers, especially in winter, so two powerful wood-burning stoves are used in the tiny space of the sleeper steam room and dressing room.

Thermal power of 20 kW is enough to quickly and deeply heat the walls of the bathhouse and the lining of the steam room.

It will not be possible to sit comfortably for several hours in such a bathhouse, but it will be very possible to thoroughly steam and wash yourself in the country after work.

The advantage of this design of a bathhouse made of sleepers is its simplicity and reliability. Such a building will not rot, since there are no insulation materials, and, accordingly, no places for condensation to accumulate.

A concrete strip foundation must be equipped with vents.

As a result, after completing the bath procedures, due to the huge amount of heat stored by the walls of the furnace, the sleeper bath is evenly dried and gets rid of residual moisture.

Project of a full-fledged bathhouse made from sleepers

Based on unprocessed sleeper blanks, you can build a fairly convenient and inexpensive bathhouse with a high level of comfort, and most importantly, high durability of the box. Sometimes, instead of blanks, you can use black sleepers.

If it was not possible to buy sleeping material inexpensively, then the problem can be solved by special preparation of material that has already been used. For example, “fresh” 5-7 year old sleepers with shallow impregnation will cost 25% more than ten-year-old material, but it is this sleeper block that is of particular interest:

The structure of the wood differs practically little from a new clean piece, there are no cracks or damage;
Creosote impregnation is concentrated on the surface of the sleeper and does not penetrate deep into the wood.

This material looks quite presentable, so often bathhouses made from five-year-old beams are not even subjected to additional external finishing. The problem is how to get rid of the creosote impregnation.

To do this, the sleeper at the ends and three of the four side faces is simply cut on a powerful circular saw to a “living” tree.

The remaining fourth side, after laying the sleepers in the walls of the bathhouse, will face the street, and over time will lose up to 80-90% of the impregnating creosote.

Features of the foundation for the sleeper walls of the bathhouse

For a full-size standard bathhouse made of sleepers, the best option remains a strip shallow foundation. The main problem that plagues all wooden baths is how to effectively waterproof the base of the lower crowns of the walls of the building.

Therefore, when arranging the foundation and base of a bathhouse made of sleepers, additional measures are taken:

Mandatory installation of vents - holes in the concrete foundation strip, through which it is possible to “remove” the bulk of the moisture from the underground space;
Laying the first crown with full treatment with special waterproofing mastic;
The next two crowns are laid from uncut impregnated sleepers.

When compared with conventional timber baths, a sleeper bath lasts 15 years even on waterlogged soil, while timber begins to rot already in the fifth year of service.

Using treated sleepers to strengthen the foundation and basement of bathhouse walls can have unpleasant consequences.

Creosote and phenol are easily washed away by moisture and transferred to the soil, through which fumes can enter the room.

To block toxic and unpleasantly smelling substances, waterproofing made of thick polyethylene film is laid on the ground in the underground, then the first layer of insulation made of polystyrene foam sheets.

Insulation with a thickness of at least 70 mm is sealed at the joints with tape and filled with concrete screed. Next comes a layer of waterproofing, which is necessarily separated by an air gap from the subfloor laid above.

The gap cannot be filled with expanded clay or any other bulk insulation.

If water leaks into the cavity, be it groundwater with phenol from sleepers, or from the bathhouse premises, the expanded clay will soak in groundwater and creosote, and the bathhouse will have to be dismantled, the floors removed and the backfill replaced.

Wall decoration from sleepers

All products made from sleeper wood, especially the cutting planes, must be re-treated with an antiseptic, fire retardant and water-repellent impregnation. This will reduce the release of odor and protect the walls of the bathhouse from fire.

Insulation of bathhouse walls is carried out according to the standard scheme:

The first layer of glassine or vapor barrier is laid directly on the crowns of sleepers, glued with tape and covered with foil;
The second layer consists of mineral wool laid on the sheathing;
The third layer is filled with linden lining;
The walls in the steam room are simply sanded; in other rooms they are impregnated with hydrophobic compounds.

Sometimes owners use a trick and heat the bathhouse several times before installing the insulation. In this way, it is possible to warm up the sleeper walls, thereby forcing most of the fumes with an unpleasant odor to be released into the dry, hot air.

How to build a bathhouse from black sleepers

First of all, the material purchased for the construction of a bathhouse must be sorted and the cleanest and most even sleepers selected. They will be used to lay the walls on the facade.

Part of the sleeper beams will be dismantled into facing material - a homemade tongue-and-groove board, ordinary beams will be used for laying the walls, the most impregnated with phenol will be used for arranging the foundation and base of the bathhouse.

Walls and foundation made of sleepers for a bathhouse

If in the area allocated for the construction of a bathhouse, the soil is too saturated with water, or the area is periodically flooded with melt or rainwater, it is best to place the room on a pile foundation. One of these options is shown in the photo.

The main difference is the use of sleepers to make piles. The frame of a sleeper bath weighs at least 8000 kg, this is much heavier than in the case of a frame or panel construction, so the pile support is made from one or two sleepers, sawn in half.

A pit is dug under the future support, into which a layer of crushed stone and sand is poured. The halves tied together with wire are re-treated with resin or bitumen, placed in a hole and covered with the same mixture of sand and screenings.

The next step is laying out the strapping. To build the frame, sleepers are spliced into one massive beam along the entire length of the bathhouse wall. After laying and driving in the metal dowels, the strapping beam is sealed with roofing felt, and only after that the first crown is laid.

The technology for assembling bathhouse walls from sleepers is practically no different from laying timber, the only difference being that the crowns are tied together every 3-4 rows with steel brackets made of thick reinforcement. In the process of laying the next crown, the surfaces are laid with jute, flax, but more often with dried moss.

The corners of the bathhouse are cut from two sleepers with a lock “in half a tree”, while the direction of the cut changes to the opposite with each subsequent crown.

Roof and ceiling

For a small bathhouse, the last two crowns are laid simultaneously with the ceiling beams. The material used is the best sleepers split in two from the available remainder. The resulting pairs are spliced into a long beam, which covers the ceiling. At the same time, the ceiling is hammered with a board.

The rafters for the roof of the bathhouse are cut and joined on the ground, then raised in pairs to the ceiling and cut into the last crown of the walls. The sheathing is immediately filled and covered with roofing felt. In this condition, the bathhouse should overwinter, the walls will gain weight, and the structure will shrink.

Wall and box decoration

At the stage of finishing work, the crowns are packed and embossed with jute tow, the floors are cut out and laid inside the paired dressing room and rest room. All that remains is to cut out the window and door opening, install the frames, hang the doors and move on to finishing work inside the room.

The ceiling is hemmed from the inside of the steam room and dressing room, a waterproofing film is laid and filled with expanded clay backfill. All elements inside the bathhouse are assembled to their final dimensions, without any gaps for shrinkage or sagging.

Pros and cons of the material

First of all, it’s worth understanding what a sleeper is. Sleepers are inexpensive lumber treated with creosote, a special compound that protects wood from corrosion. Creosote is a poisonous antiseptic that extends the life of sleepers and prevents damage to the material by fungi, mold and parasites.

What are the advantages of a sleeper bath:

low cost of lumber;
simple installation;
short installation times.

But, as often happens, you have to pay for being cheap. Creosote has a specific smell that intensifies when heated, so it is very difficult to stay in the bathhouse for a long time. But most summer residents have been putting up with this discomfort for decades and continue to build bathhouses from sleepers.

It is advisable, before building a bathhouse from sleepers with your own hands, to become as familiar as possible with the main strengths and weaknesses of this material.

The advantages include:

low cost;
ease of installation;
durability (ability to last over 20 years);
the highest possible speed of construction.

There are also disadvantages:

not very attractive appearance (summer residents almost never do external finishing of sleepers);
the most important disadvantage is the presence of harmful creosote, from which, when heated, toxic impurities begin to be released, which can significantly reduce the quality of the procedures in the steam room.

Bath sleepers must be durable, so you need to be especially careful when choosing them. Most summer residents prefer to buy used sleepers, although new material can also be found on sale.

They try to choose used material not only because of its low cost, but also due to the fact that over the past 10-12 years of operation of the sleepers, the toxic creosote in them is almost completely eroded.

If you really want to build a bathhouse that will last for many years, then when choosing a material it would be a good idea to take into account a number of useful tips:

Please keep in mind when purchasing that different places may offer different quality products. In this regard, do not buy material at the first place you come across. Quite often people do just that, and therefore there are cases when, instead of high-quality material, they came across rotten wood to varying degrees. As a result, if you build a bathhouse from such sleepers, it can last for about three years, after which it can no longer be repaired.
To determine really high-quality sleepers, you need to knock on them with a hammer - a dull sound should come from them.

Sleeper bath

A bathhouse is simply a magnificent structure for any house located outside the city. But, unfortunately, building a bathhouse will take a lot of your time and at this time it is a very expensive pleasure.

Saving time and resources
The nuances of building a bathhouse
Foundation and walls
Doors and windows
Interior decoration

Saving time and resources

Usually bathhouses are built from a log house, but in order to save time and resources, some people make a bathhouse from sleepers. They are considered the cheapest material.

Some people use sleepers decommissioned from the railroad to save money. The only drawback of sleepers is that to protect the wood they are treated with creosote, which is quite toxic.

But, despite this, some still build bathhouses from them.

Although it must be remembered that when the temperature in the bath is high, creosote will begin to emit an unpleasant odor.

Exterior decoration of the bath

The nuances of building a bathhouse

If you still decide to build a bathhouse from sleepers, then pay attention to the following nuances. There are two options to buy new sleepers or discarded ones.

Decommissioned ones will cost much less, and if they are quite old, then you won’t even feel the smell from them. When purchasing sleepers, tap them with a hammer, the sound should be dull.

This will ensure that these sleepers are of good quality and will serve you for many years to come.

Foundation and walls

First, choose a place to build. It should be dry and comfortable.

Construction from sleepers. Advantages and disadvantages

The foundation for a bathhouse is most often made columnar or strip.

Once the foundation is ready, you can begin installing the walls. It's easy enough. The first link is placed on the foundation, but it is advisable to place thin slats between them. This will extend the life of the wood.

Foundation and walls of a bathhouse made of sleepers

The gaps that form can be filled with polyurethane foam. Pay special attention to correct angles. After this, put insulation on the first crown. Fasten the second link to the first with wooden dowels. Align all links using a level and fasten all rows to the very top.

Doors and windows

It is better to leave openings for doors and windows right away. And you also need to pay attention to the fact that the walls inside are even, because it will be very difficult to level them later.

After the walls are ready, saturate them with a fireproof solution to reduce the risk of fire, and after that with varnish or drying oil.

The roof and floor are installed in the same way as when building from other materials.

Bathhouse doors and windows made from sleepers

Interior decoration

The interior is finished with hardwood. It could be aspen, maple or linden. So if you want to quickly and cheaply build a bathhouse, then railway sleepers are perfect.

Interior decoration of the bath

DIY Russian bathhouse

What is a bathhouse? It is a room for bathing using water and hot air or water and steam. This is a find where you can relax both body and soul after a working day. The bathhouse is built from environmentally friendly materials...

Help! The sleepers stink

Sportsman

29-07-2008 17:24

I’m finishing up the garage and started laying the floors. Kind people suggested sleepers for translations. Ok, I found used sleepers for cheap and brought them. In the morning I go into the garage and it stinks. I worked for half an hour - I smelled a strong stink, threw out the most smelly sleeper in my opinion - it became easier.

but it still smells like the railway... it is of course romantic, a memory of travel, etc... BUT HARMFUL!!! The question is - what to do? Or will the garage floor smell less? I’m not going to live there, the workshop is also separate - just to build a horse.

and the sleepers are ancient, generally dry in appearance... I know that many even made basements out of sleepers - that’s probably where the gas van is...

qwwerty

07/29/2008 17:49
Creosote, it seems.
This is impregnation so as not to rot. If you paint them later, they will stink much less. Oregonian

29-07-2008 17:50

The sleepers are treated with some kind of chemical like creosote... which causes Cancer. Therefore, all the switchmen who were on the railway were transferred. and those who lived in basements with sleepers also disappeared. So decide for yourself

Ann

29-07-2008 17:55

Creosote is truly a carcinogen, and it will stink for a very, very long time. Either put some kind of insulation on the floor, or redo everything and replace the sleepers with something more normal.

PS There were people who even built houses from stolen or used sleepers. Especially in forest-poor areas. And they even lived in them. True, usually not for long.

Serjant

29-07-2008 18:04

throw out all the sleepers. this is the only way out. Creazote is never erased by anything.

Billy Kid

07/29/2008 19:04quote:
For translations, kind people suggested that sleepers
be punched in the face of these “good people” for such advice.

Genzel

29-07-2008 19:11

I sympathize... (((Throw them out! Your health!

And advise “good people” to sprinkle grain on the roof of their car every morning and that stains on the car from sticky buds from trees are good to remove with brilliant green.

ASDER_K

29-07-2008 19:18

At my father’s dacha, the base of the barn is made of sleepers... the sleepers are old. They were decommissioned 35 - 40 years ago... so they don’t stink even now... not like my father ever stank... they are made from larch boiled in bitumen...

right now - yes, the smelly ones are gone...

Ann

29-07-2008 19:35

Sleepers come in several different types... The usual ones are wood in creosote. For the southern regions they impregnated with vitriol, for Central Asia, we don’t have such things. It seems that boiling in bitumen was not used commercially for sleepers. Only telegraph poles did this.

The shed is a fix... But in the garage, if you have plans to stay there for any length of time, it’s better that this doesn’t happen.

crap

29-07-2008 23:04

We also had sleepers at our dacha. 19 years - normal flight, they stank until the floor was laid tightly, about a year. then it didn’t smell like anything. By the way, the sleepers were laid new.

Sportsman

Source: https://baseperevozok.ru/banja-iz-shpal/

Preparing sleepers

Sleeper sorting

The variety of projects is quite large, but regardless of your choice, the first crown will play the main role. To do this, it is worth choosing identical sleepers with a cross-section of 20*20cm; to fasten them together, cut-outs of the same size are made at the ends. You shouldn’t rely on your eye, otherwise you’ll have to spend time adjusting and refining later.

You can choose any form for making cuttings, according to which you need to prepare a template. It is according to this that it is worth making cuts on all sleepers.

Installation of subsequent crowns

First of all, you will need to lay slats on the foundation that will prevent the sleepers from touching it. This is also necessary to provide additional ventilation.
After this, proceed to laying the first crown, which should be positioned strictly horizontally. This can be achieved using a level.
Connect the sleepers together, filling the space between them and the foundation with foam. The first crown does not need to be secured to the foundation, since the finished weight of the structure will provide the necessary stability.
A layer of heat insulator (tow, jute or moss) is placed on the crown and secured with a construction stapler.

Bath crowns made of sleepers

Subsequent crowns are laid strictly horizontally with further fixation to each other. The sleepers should be fastened with dowels or metal pins, having previously made holes for unloading. In this case, the diameter of the fasteners and holes must be completely identical.

Note! All crowns are mounted and processed in the same way as the first. This is necessary to give strength and reliability to the sleeper bath. However, the last two crowns do not need to be connected, since in the future they will be removed when installing beams for the ceiling.