I want to buy a couple of relaimed sleepers to act as a small retaining wall around an area of chippings that is the dogs area for toilet. However old sleepers do contain creosote which can leach out sometimes. has anybody used them in their gardens who have animals ? true the chances of the dogs/cats really standing on them and then licking their paws on the day the cresote leaks out if that happens at all is unlikely but I dont want to have an accident.
Do any of you have any experience of this or am I being over cautious. Its just the reclaimed ones will look somuch better than new  which are pressure treated.  

Having sat on reclaimed sleepers in a friend's garden and ruining my trousers I went for new oak sleepers when we did our garden.

They were quite yellow when they went down but are now weathering to a lovely silvery colour.

They are in alot of gardens around here and have never ever heard of any problems!!!!
I will warn you they are VERY heavy!!!! And the new ones are lighter.
You also have problems getting them now as they are not allowed to be sold anymore off the railway, so its only the stock piles (and alot of them!!!) that are being sold now.
Good luck :)
Lea :) :)

we got our sleepers from wickes the builders they are a bit lighter than the old railway type but they do not seep creasote and they have made fantastic boxes and raised beds in the garden and i must admit the pup thinks they are brilliant for her teething

We have these as a raised bed in our garden and as Lea says, they are VERY heavy. If we'd known how heavy before we bought them off eBay, we wouldn't have bothered and would have looked for something else to do the same job.

As for the leaking, i can honestly say that i haven't noticed any . 

Thanks people didn't think of pup using them to teeth may go for new ones in that case.  Will be doing the garden centre this moring to see what I can find or googling wickes as ours doesn't stock them

FF, I'm sure Layhams Farm sells them. If not them, try Highams Farm, the one at the top of the estate as you enter the lanes just before Layhams crossroad. I know they will do them, different sorts too!

http://www.highamsfarm.com/

I think you are right about highams forgot them which is really daft since that is where my dog walker has her fields and takes Whispa and Mia
Will check them out

Have you thought of going to a fencing company and asking for their old fence posts? My neighbour has given me loads, some are brand new but have split when they have tried to put them into the ground. Oh, I get them for free as well, but then he is a neighbour and I help his elderly mum now and then ;-)

I've used them & had no problems.  As someone else posted, just don't sit on them because they seep for some time!

My last lot were actually new sleepers, just as good.  Old railway sleepers are harder to get hold of these days anyway, well down here anyway.  Don't forget, we used creosote on fences for donkeys years before anyone thought anything of it.

Thanks people I have gone for new sleepers easier to manover and no risk of seeping. Now have hole in garden as son and friend prepare the ground for the paving slabs and then putting in the sleepers
Wont bother to mention the hole in kitchen ceiling wher the bath decided to leak anmd is now blocked ! omg this weekend is proving to be difficult all ready

> Don't forget, we used creosote on fences for donkeys years before anyone thought anything of it.

The problem with creosote is that some animals can deal with certain chemicals and flush them from their body systems, and some can't. Cresols and phenols are especially toxic to cats, being one of the species that can't. the chemicals then build up in the liver and over time can cause issues and/or shorten their lives. (The same with other chemicals that are OK for dogs and humans, but deadly to cats, such as aspirin).

Cats which get creosote, cresols, or phenols - that includes pine disinfectants - on their coats or paws and then lick them off can get acute poisoning.

It's something that has only relatively recently been known... well, I say relatively, but the dangers to cats from these compounds has been well known for over 30 years, I would guess it's taken time to seep through to the public consciousness.

By the way, Tea Tree oil is extremely high in phenolic compounds - its active antibacterial agent - so I would never use it around cats.

> Wont bother to mention the hole in kitchen ceiling wher the bath decided to leak anmd is now blocked

Oooh eck!! Doesn't sound good, hope you get that sorted soon.

Thanks Sue Iam def not a happy bunny cant even use the shower cos it is an over bath one so all goes down the bath. Oh is not happy plumbing not his thing !!

> Cresols and phenols are especially toxic to cats

I didn't know that - we have made a pathway all round the top of our garden and steps down using old sleepers.  In this sun they are weeping badly and I have to make sure that the grandchildren don't go up there.  My dog is shut off from the top of the garden by gates now but occasionally she leaps them to run after a cat.  My son's cats are always in our garden - doing their business where I have been digging!  I hope they have the sense to keep off the creosote. 

Gosh, sorry to here about your ceiling FF. Hope you get it sorted soon. x

Can I ask where you got the new sleepers? we're hoping to do up the garden this summer, remove most of the beds and just have raised beds along the sides - have totally gone off gardening :( so want something less labour intensive.

sure we got them from woodcote nurseries in the end but knights do them as well and very little difference in price. Del charge 10pound from woodcote 15 from knights. Also easy to pcik up and carry at apinch I could have moved the big one. The reclaimed weigh about 2 tonne !!

>Having sat on reclaimed sleepers in a friend's garden and ruining my trousers

Has anyone tried acrylic Barn Paint?

I know it can be applied over tar & creosote. They use it in stables so I would imagine it is ok around dogs?

Just to say have I am really pleased with my sleepers and the new ones look fine