Support required when putting in a door lintel

  • Thread starter richard7761
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richard7761

I'm going to put a 1200mm lintel into a load-bearing wall in my home.

Directly above the wall and parallel to it, upstairs, is breeze block partition wall.

Above the lintel there are 3 courses of brickwork before you come to the ceiling beams.

If I remove the brickwork for the lintel and immediately put in the lintel, can I get away without supporting the ceiling?

I think I probabably could. What say? Thanks.

P.S. BTW the joists overlap on the load-bearing wall.
 
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Are you a gambler?

We just did the same, the guy who did it wasn't bothered about supporting the joists above but I was so I insisted. We used 2 acro props on each side with scaffold board against the ceiling and floor, make sure you take account of the direction of joists when positioning them if you use a similar approach.

There are other ways, like taking a couple of bricks out and passing supports through again to acros or similar, or drilling holes and using bars which again are supported by acros.

Don't forget that once the lintel is in place, the cement has to set so for a short while the support will only be provided by relatively soft squashy stuff so safer to keep props in a little longer.

I'm not qualified so take or leave the advice at your own risk.

Oh, I assume you are using a concrete pre-stressed lintel rather than a corrugated metal one?
 
The lintel is a pre-stressed concrete one.

I reckon I probably could get away with not supporting the ceiling.

Because I reckon if I were to (say) remove all support from beneath the upstairs breeze block wall, for a distance of 1200mm, the breeze block wall would stay intact. It would not cave in in the gap. All that would happen is the downward pressure would increase either side of the gap.

Now in my situation I''d be removing support that is 3 courses down from the bottom of the breeze block wall. Which is a better situation.

Okay, imagine there is no breeze block wall above and no beams. Would the 3 courses of wall cave in if I removed support below them? No, I don't think so.

Okay, would the 3 courses cave in with the beams above but with no breeze block wall? I don't think so. It may depend what is in the rooms above. Like a heavy piano sitting right above.

Playing devils advocate here BTW. :D
 
Well, it's your house. You are probably right, probably. Are you a Gambler?

Looks like it would cost < £30 to hire 4 acros for a weekend.
 
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Assume load is triangulated so for your 1200mm lintel half that in height of blockwork will be effected.. if the floor is under 600mm above the lintel you should consider propping..
 
Assume load is triangulated so for your 1200mm lintel half that in height of blockwork will be effected.. if the floor is under 600mm above the lintel you should consider propping..

Okay, if we adhere to that "rule" I'd need 600mm of brickwork above the lintel. There would only be 240mm above the lintel in my case. So, I'm short of brickwork and ought to support the celling to avoid risk of collapse.
 
I suppose I'd need to get 4 acros? And not 2? That is 2 acros either side of the load-bearing wall.
 
We actually used 3 as one of them was so rusty it wouldn't move, You could maybe get away with one either side, it's upto you
 
Again, I am no expert but you could probably get away with one acro with a strong boy smack bang in the middle.

Ideally a couple would probably be perfect.

I'd always rather support it as it is less work than rectifying even a small localised collapse.
 
1 strongboy would probably do it.. its not a huge opening.. a couple if your nervous
 
1 strongboy would probably do it.. its not a huge opening.. a couple if your nervous
I'd go with that; one point of support would be OK on that span. Too many props clutter the place up and make it difficult to work.
 
We're talking about a single doorway sized opening here guys.

We have done trillions with either no propping or rudimentary at best and i've got stack of acros. :p
 
I am thinking of maybe making my own acro thingy, with a piece of scaffolding tube.

I need to get two end plate thingys, and use chocks. What think?

I'd need to get myself 2 sole plates. Anyone got 2 you don't use? I'm near Wakefield. Rich
 
Get yerself a couple of eight foot lengths (or longer if ceiling height demands) of 2"x 4" and a short plank and wedge it all in.

Sorted.
 
Okay, I spoke to my nephew who works on a farm. Says he will bring me 2 acros. So, I look sorted. I'll use these 2 to reduce risk of any possible collapse.. Thanks everybody for your comments.
 

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