Question
QUESTION: We plan to extend an existing railroad tie wall to a longer length. The old wall had been preserved with an application of creosote. In order for the new section of wall to match the old section, it will need to be treated as well. Do you know if creosote still can be purchased for this purpose? Do you know of any other wood preservative that could be used? Thanks!

ANSWER: Hey, Cheryl.

I don't know what state you're in, but in all the states where I've worked since 1973, one couldn't just go down to Home Depot and buy a lot of creosote since it's been considered a hazardous material for a long time now.

The easiest thing to do is to buy old railroad ties. Without knowing what state you're in, there are usually many places to buy railroad ties that have been, by their very nature, pretreated by the railroad companies or the tie manufacturers.

It would be difficult to treat them yourselves with anything, especially for retaining wall use, since they are usually somewhat large pieces of wood and you really need to treat the whole piece, which usually means soaking it in a preservative for a long time. That's how creosote is applied to railroad ties.

Hope that helps.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: The railroad ties have been pretreated so I guess we are more interested in darkening them so they will more closely match the dark ties of the existing wall-just for purposes of appearance. By the way, we live in Ohio.

Answer
Hey, Cheryl.

You might contact an old, well-established landscaping service and see what they would recommended. If they've been in business a long time, I bet they've come across your situation before.

Other than that, you might try posting your question in the general question pool and see if someone else out there has addressed your situation before and can give you a better answer.