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Background: I'm having a new kitchen fitted and I've already replaced a window with a set of French Doors:
//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10893
Unfortunately, I've now discovered that the other window, which is 7' 10" wide, only has a single wooden lintel holding up one row of bricks. The other row appears to be held up by the uPVC window
Here's a pic of the window itself:
http://www.phykell.co.uk/diy/LargeWindowInside.jpg
Looking in a bit more detail, you can see that the wooden lintel is cracked in the middle (right where there's a knot):
http://www.phykell.co.uk/diy/WoodenLintelCrack.jpg
To the left hand side you can see a serious crack where the blockwork has pulled apart:
http://www.phykell.co.uk/diy/WindowInsideLeft.jpg
...and a closeup:
http://www.phykell.co.uk/diy/BlockCrackCloseup.jpg
Outside, the problem is obvious:
http://www.phykell.co.uk/diy/LargeWindowOutside.jpg
I reckon the cracking is due to movement as the existing lintel and the window itself, are not providing enough support. Does anyone agree with this? To fix it, I reckon I need to fit two concrete lintels, one for each side. Previously I thought that the maximum length of a 100mm x 65mm lintel was 2.4m which wouldn't be long enough to span my window, but apparently they also come in the maximum size of 2.85m:
http://www.stowellconcrete.co.uk/home/products/lintels.htm
This should do the job just fine (leaving me 8" either side).
I'd welcome any opinions on the problem and my suggested solution, thanks
//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10893
Unfortunately, I've now discovered that the other window, which is 7' 10" wide, only has a single wooden lintel holding up one row of bricks. The other row appears to be held up by the uPVC window
Here's a pic of the window itself:
http://www.phykell.co.uk/diy/LargeWindowInside.jpg
Looking in a bit more detail, you can see that the wooden lintel is cracked in the middle (right where there's a knot):
http://www.phykell.co.uk/diy/WoodenLintelCrack.jpg
To the left hand side you can see a serious crack where the blockwork has pulled apart:
http://www.phykell.co.uk/diy/WindowInsideLeft.jpg
...and a closeup:
http://www.phykell.co.uk/diy/BlockCrackCloseup.jpg
Outside, the problem is obvious:
http://www.phykell.co.uk/diy/LargeWindowOutside.jpg
I reckon the cracking is due to movement as the existing lintel and the window itself, are not providing enough support. Does anyone agree with this? To fix it, I reckon I need to fit two concrete lintels, one for each side. Previously I thought that the maximum length of a 100mm x 65mm lintel was 2.4m which wouldn't be long enough to span my window, but apparently they also come in the maximum size of 2.85m:
http://www.stowellconcrete.co.uk/home/products/lintels.htm
This should do the job just fine (leaving me 8" either side).
I'd welcome any opinions on the problem and my suggested solution, thanks