lintel

Hi everyone. I am wanting to knock down a section of my external wall and place a 14ft lintel there, could anyone help as to how the lintel is put into place and then how the wall is removed, thanks a lot, rigger98

I don't want to rain on your parade but frankly attempting to cut a 14ft structural opening is beyond you if you need to ask these questions.

Do you have any friends in the trade or even someone who has done this before that could give you a hand?

I'll do the concise version, but no way am I writing down the long description

1. Design a suitable lintel/beam
2. Support all the structure above with props and needles
3. Take out the wall
4. Insert the lintel/beam
5. Remove the supports
6. (optional) Pray
7. Make good

thanks for the replies, woody your break down was good but how is the lintel put in place do we lift it into place and what sort of lintel is needed for a cavirty wall.

rigger98 said:

thanks for the replies, woody your break down was good but how is the lintel put in place do we lift it into place and what sort of lintel is needed for a cavirty wall.

Click to expand...

The question of "what type of beam" cannot be answered unless more info' is provided.

What you really need is a visit from an S.E. to ascertain the loadings and appropriate support. He will instruct as to the most efficient and economical beam for your scenario.

As woods has said it then a case of propping then man-handling the beam or beams into place. If you are using a pair then these will need to be fixed together with threaded bar and spacers.

It's not something which can be explained in text.

You're probably looking at a few pages to explain it all, and then it still wont be comprehensive and you certainly don't want to be half way through and then realise that things are not quite the same as you read on a forum one night

Read the lintel manufacturers sites to see if a lintel is suitable. Otherwise you need a steel beam. Then you need to get someone to work out what size beam, and if the supports are adequate for what you propose

Proping needs to be done in the right place, so again no-one here can tell you where to prop it.

You need someone experienced on site, not on a forum IMO. Get it wrong and you end up with the upstairs downstairs

And as no-one has done it yet, I'll post the obligatory "don't forget building regs" message

^woody^ said:

I'll do the concise version, but no way am I writing down the long description

1. Design a suitable lintel/beam
2. Support all the structure above with props and needles
3. Take out the wall
4. Insert the lintel/beam
5. Remove the supports
6. (optional) Pray
7. Make good

Click to expand...

Should also add:
1.1 Check that foundations are suitable
1.2 Check overall stability of structure

As said by ^woody^ and noseall pretty much covers the rest