Best way to find out if a lintel is in place?

[Dackers]

The living room is at the back of my house. About 10 years ago, the people there before me extended the house and made the extension into a dining room, off the original living room. Instead of putting a doorway in, they knocked the majority of the old external wall down and made two large archways with no doors, one either side of the soil pipe. So what we have is two arches each about 5' wide at the widest point with about 1.5' of wall left between the two, and about 1' of wall at each end. Probably about 1.5-2' left between the highest point of the arch and the ceiling.

My concern is they've knocked great holes in what was once the outside wall of the house (and still is upstairs) and that they might not have put a concrete lintel in. I've gone over the area with a pipe/wire detector to see if there's an RSJ there but it didn't detect anything.

Can anyone suggest the best way to find out of there is a concrete lintel in place? I really don't fancy having to tear half the house down...

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[AndyBill]

have a look under the floorboards above ?

 

[^woody^]

Arches hold up much more than a first floor of a house, and if it is a constructed arch (rather than a mesh arch former) then there is no reason for a lintel to have been put in, and no reason to be concerned if there is not one.

It has been up for 10 years so what is the problem with it?

 

[Dackers]

Thanks AndyBill/Woody.

I know it's been there for ten years already but I'd like to make sure that it'll last an other ten!