Lintels

[wmathias]

Hi,

I've a house built in approx 1915, with arched soldier bricks above the current wood frame french doors. I don't know if I have a cavity.



I'm looking at replacing the doors with upvc.

I've drilled a pilot hole inside above the wooden frame and got only red brick dust. You can see where I've drilled in the picture below.




Do I have an internal lintel do you think? Is there a way to find out?
If I don't, what's the best way to proceed, put in a lintel, build a frame for my new doors out of wood?

Cheers!

 

[stuart45]

You could have a timber lintel on the inside.

 

[wmathias]

Thanks for your reply mate!!

Wouldn't I have had wood shaving come out of the exploratory hole though?

 

[stuart45]

Could be just under the brickwork.

 

[wmathias]

Do you mean if I drilled the hole lower I'd hit wood, or drilled the hole deeper?

 

[stuart45]

Lower

 

[Gazman16]

You could probably get a chisel then small crow bar up behind the wooden arched trim on the outside and prize it away an inch or 2 in the middle to see right up behind.

 

[wessex101]

It looks like it is a single brick solid 9" wall so my money would be on a flat iron bar behind the arch above the timber window frame.

Take off the internal architrave above the window and carefully hack off some of the plaster to check.

The brick arch is probably supporting most of the weight of the wall but to be on the safe side I would consider installing a new 4" lintel (steel or concrete) to the inner part of the wall above the window frame. (Assuming the new window will be installed in the same position set back into the wall behind the arch.)

 

[tony1851]

My money's on a 6x4 timber lintel on the inside.

 

[wmathias]

I shall have a dig about and get back with pictures!

 

[wmathias]

Plaster off and some cladding removed:









The top beam doesn't extend past the end of the bottom beam and the bottom beam is the top bar of the current french doors.

Thoughts re fitting UPVC french doors?

 

[wessex101]

Looks like Tony wins. Well done that man. But where the hell did the brick dust come from? That pilot hole must have hit the timber lintel!

Subject to the timber lintel being sound I would be inclined to leave it insitu. Prop it whilst you cut out the old window frame head and brick up the bearings.

However you'll need to check - What size is timber lintel; is it hardwood or softwood; how wide is span; what load is it supporting etc.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Thoughts re fitting UPVC french doors?

They aren't very nice, and it would be a shame to do that to an Edwardian house which still has at least some period detailing still present - possibly a lot.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Subject to the timber lintel being sound I would be inclined to leave it insitu ... However you'll need to check - What size is timber lintel; is it hardwood or softwood; how wide is span; what load is it supporting etc.

OOI, what are you concerned about, given that it's been there for 100 years and hasn't failed yet, and there are no plans to change the load it's supporting?

 

[wessex101]

Because at the moment it looks like the lintel is bearing directly onto the head of the window frame. The photos seem to show that the lintel has no direct bearing within the wall.[/quote]