I'm getting a bad feeling about this house, considering the work thats going into just the garage...
The side door (i.e. the one you walk through, not take your car through) has a lintel above it (as all doors in load bearing walls should have). The problem is, the lintel only over laps the door frame on one side. the other side, its only rested on half an inch of brick. Best of all, if I push it, it moves, and the plaster on the outside of the garage (inside of hall way) crumbles off.
The recess for a full sized lintel (half a brick overlap each side) was cut out, but after this shorter lintel was put in, the gaps at each end were filled with morter. On one side, this morter was so loose I removed it, along with a few bits of brick that had broken off.
If for nothing more than peace of mind, I want to replace this lintel with a longer one and re-morter the wall around the door frame.
While I understand the dangers of removing a load bearing piece of structure. There is a gap along the top of it of about 1cm and as I said, it wobbles, so theres no real load being supported anyway.
By load bearing, its only supporting the floor of the room above, which is empty and I can keep it that way.
Are there any regultaions governing replacing of lintel? where can you get them? and is it worth making one out of reinforced concrete?
Cheers, Sam.
The side door (i.e. the one you walk through, not take your car through) has a lintel above it (as all doors in load bearing walls should have). The problem is, the lintel only over laps the door frame on one side. the other side, its only rested on half an inch of brick. Best of all, if I push it, it moves, and the plaster on the outside of the garage (inside of hall way) crumbles off.
The recess for a full sized lintel (half a brick overlap each side) was cut out, but after this shorter lintel was put in, the gaps at each end were filled with morter. On one side, this morter was so loose I removed it, along with a few bits of brick that had broken off.
If for nothing more than peace of mind, I want to replace this lintel with a longer one and re-morter the wall around the door frame.
While I understand the dangers of removing a load bearing piece of structure. There is a gap along the top of it of about 1cm and as I said, it wobbles, so theres no real load being supported anyway.
By load bearing, its only supporting the floor of the room above, which is empty and I can keep it that way.
Are there any regultaions governing replacing of lintel? where can you get them? and is it worth making one out of reinforced concrete?
Cheers, Sam.