Mounting Ledger Board To Lintel

[i_am_fubar]

Another lovely one we've found.

The joists of the flat roof, apart from being compost in places, are supported entirely on the external skin of the extension. Lovely Catnic on the inner skin that is supporting 1 course of bricks. The timber frame of the door (without lintel) is taking the load of the roof:

Untitled

• i_am_fubar
• 13 Aug 2013
• 1

Untitled

• i_am_fubar
• 13 Aug 2013
• 1

It's not an issue to pack up the joists to sit on the lintel, but we need to lower the ceiling to accomodate a warm deck. This causes a problem.

We need to lower the joists about 130mm (plus another 50mm for a wall plate). This would put the joists IN the lintel which is imposible. Do we have any other options other than:

1) Use a cavity lintel. Which presents a problem with un-even loading of inner and outer skin.
2) Mount a ledger board to the front of the Catnic.

Is number 2 even viable? And if it is, how would one go about doing it?

Any help appreciated

Fubar.

 

[rjm2k]

Confused, are those bricks on top of the lintel not supporting the joists (if not badly)? Why lower the roof for a deck rather than just building it on top as is?

 

[^woody^]

Do we have any other options

Yes, don't lower the roof and insulate between the joists and below them

A ceiling just above a window is claustrophobic to say the least

 

[i_am_fubar]

Thanks for the replies.

Sorry, should have stated that the drawings are not to scale. The height of the ceiling at the moment is significantly higher than the rest of the house and dropping it the proposed amount won't make it any lower than the rest of the house. Still well (150mm+) above the current door frame.

Would rather not risk going cold deck as the orientation of the joists does not allow for cross ventilation (and can't be changed) and I'm paranoid about interstitial condensation.

And yes, the bricks on the lintel aren't baring any load. I have been able to just pull blocks out from under the joists by hand, despite one dropping slightly as the end (over external skin) had rotted.

Can't build up externally as there is a patio door just above the current deck height and its right on the edge of not having enough up stand below it. Ideally, I'd like to drop the TOP of the roof too, but that's not really an option. Nor is moving the door unfortunately.

Alas, a lot of problems for what could have been a simple job if it was only done properly the first time.

Cheers,
Fubar.

 

[rjm2k]

Lifting the door maybe easier than dropping the roof, or how about a step up to the decking to allow space for the door

 

[i_am_fubar]

The door is already hard up against the soffets of the pitched roof and already has a step up to it, so no way to move it without replacing the door. And the roof needs replacing anyway, so two birds, one stone... etc

Fubar

 

[rjm2k]

How about dropping the lintel and putting in a new smaller window? Or dropping the existing window. Will make that box room seem quite cramped though?

 

[i_am_fubar]

Unfortunatly, it's not a window, it's a sliding door, so no real option to shrink or lower it.

The house has pretty low ceilings as it is. And it's not really a box room, it's 4.5x4.5m with 2 large windows and the sliding glazed doors.

I'm looking at replacement lintels, but I've not found a comparable strength that is shorter. Everything seems to keep coming back to attaching a ledger board to the front of the lintel, be that Catnic, a steel or pre-stressed concrete.

But at the same time, the joists won't then be able to run past the outer skin to the facia s

The roof sitting on the outer skin is a blessing in disguise though as it means we can replace the inner skin where needed without jepodising the structure.

Fubar.