Railroad ties or concrete blocks for a small retaining wall?

I spent a whole Saturday trying to decide between stacked railroad ties and poured concrete blocks for a 20 foot flower bed border. Ended up going with the ties because they were half the price, around $140 total, but now they're already shifting after one heavy rain. Has anyone else dealt with tie rot or movement, or should I just tear this out and start over?

1 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

1 Comment

victor7798d ago

Those ties shifting after one hard rain is pretty normal from what I've read, since wood soaks up water and the ground underneath turns to mush. I saw a landscaping thread where a guy said his ties rotted out in about 5 years, and he wished he'd just done blocks from the start. Might be worth pulling them before that flower bed sinks on you.

2