window lintel

[nic11]

Looking at a house to buy and one fault that I need to consider is that the bricks above the window have dropped slightly

dropping

• nic11
• 24 May 2015
• 1

crack over window

No cracks or anything on the inside, so wondering if its a straight forward job. Might be a case of getting a builder in, but wondering if its likely to be just strengthening by a support or whether its going to be a bigger job.

 

[kazuya]

it happens a lot, when it was built the original wooden windows could take the weight but as they have been replaced by plastic the bricks have dropped a bit, its not a big job it just needs a lintel putting in.

 

[Blagard]

kazuya is right but you will end up with an unsightly concrete lintel and a gap to close off between the lintel and the window head due to the way the head course is laid.

All in all it would look messy. I feel sure there must be a better solution but I don't know what it would be without a rebuild of a couple of courses

No quick fix that looks good so far as I am aware.

 

[tony1851]

He would be best getting rid of the soldier course, putting a normal angle-lintel in bedded on the 1st course above the window-head, and filling the narrow gap in with a cover strip or such-like.

 

[Blagard]

He would be best getting rid of the soldier course, putting a normal angle-lintel in bedded on the 1st course above the window-head, and filling the narrow gap in with a cover strip or such-like.

That is the sort of thing I was thinking about but I doubt with the span involved that a single course type of angle would do the job, so anticipate at least a couple of courses would need to come out before going back in
http://catnic.com/assets/downloads/Lintel-ANG_MBA_CCP0357-2.pdf

 

[tony1851]

Yes, clearly he would need to take out at least two courses, and a few bricks above that would probably work loose and have to be re-mortared.

I was just thinking of the problem of filling-in the inevitable gap when the soldier course was replaced with a normal course.

 

[^woody^]

He would be best getting rid of the soldier course, putting a normal angle-lintel in bedded on the 1st course above the window-head, and filling the narrow gap in with a cover strip or such-like.

That leaves a nasty cover strip and needing to get a course of new bricks which invariably don't match.

What we do in these cases is, put the new lintel in at the same level by carefully removing and cutting the brick at the bearing (that stretcher). Then the piece that is cut and the existing half go back in, or go back in on end to make the headers continue onto the bearing.

Sometimes the cut is too small and so just pointing it back up with a big joint at the bearing does not look out of place

This tends to look much less obtrusive than putting new bricks back in.

 

[nic11]

The house is a 1920's built (EPC says cavity, but I'm sure its solid walls) house, and the EA says it would be around £200 or so to fix.

It is really a case of seeing the options, so I know what I want to go for. I have seen houses where they put new brick in and it stands out like a sore thumb