Industrial building made from new railway sleepers! Using recyled steel, slotting the timber in place. advise?

Question

Looking to construct an 2000 sqft industrial building using new sleepers. These would fit into recycled steel uprights. You may have used seen these on farms. My concerns are getting the structure wind and watertight. Initially I thought of putting a lime rendering on but the expansion/contraction of the wood would make this difficult. I dont really want to overclad the timber with metal sheeting and this goes against the idea.

The reason for this type of construction is to try and get current build costs down and build a green building. If anyone has any different ideas or has made something simialr would love to get intouch. Thanks for reading this.

Answer 1

yikes seems a big building to construct in this way NEW Sleepers have you thought about reclaimed ones.

sorry if this is not what you want but I got a few ideas here for my own sheds and garage

http://www.self-sufficient.co.uk/Build-a...

http://perrone.blogs.com/horticultural/2...

http://materialicio.us/2007/06/17/the-pa...

Answer 2

It will require a number of sleepers to make a 2000 SF building.

They are heavy so you should concentrate on the foundation design.  If your foundation is faulty, the unit(s) will move and then there will be nothing you can do to keep them water tight.

Answer 3

You might look here for ideas.

http://www.shipping-container-housing.co...

Answer 4

The idea of using old sleepers is no good as the creosote emits low levels of toxic fumes.

I think that while the idea seems good, in practice it is going to be expensive and not as green as you would imagine.

New sleepers are often green timber that warps over the time it dries out so it will get leaky.

If you want a green building then a timber frame maybe of 9x2 clad with WBply on the outside and plasterboard inside might seem more "hitech" but would be warmer so more green in the long term.  Of course you can insulate with something green like blown paper fibre or wool, or use a fancy blanket tri iso/supaquilt thing again because the very high level of insulation woudl make the building greener than a less warm one eventually.  Of courase whatever you do the exterior needs cladding and you could use metal, shiplap etc.   I woudl fix expanded metal to the ply and render that.  

If you use steel as you describe there is a huge cold bridge to conduct your expensive heat to the outside.  Not green at all.

Answer 5

If this is in the UK you will need to satisfy your local Building Control officer that what you are planning is feasible within the regs if it is going to be a useable building. Not that you can't be innovative, but I can see you would have difficulty satisfying air tests with this kind of system.

I would have thought that structurally this could be made to work as the uprights would provide wind bracing as well as support. You don't say about the roof though. With many structures you need to be careful of wind suction which can tear wall panels or roofs off, as well as the more obvious peril of collapse.

The secret of sustainable design is to use materials efficiently. Your sleepers could be load bearing but so will your steel.  If you had a recyled frame of steel supports at wider centres you could infil with straw bales or similar for maximum insulation and a fraction of the cost of sleepers - then render the whole thing with lime/sand to make it weather/fireproof.