Concrete roof - is a lintel required?

[TF]

My parents have a 12' x 6' out-building which used to hold the coal for their house. It has single brick walls on all 3 sides and is attached to their house at one end such that it sticks out at 90 degrees into their garden. There is a lintel over the doorway into the outbuilding which is approx 4' from the house. The out-building is covered with a concrete flat roof which is 7" thick at the house end, and tapers down to 4" at the far end. The roof overhangs the 3 walls by approx 2" and is joined to the rear of the house.

Shortly after moving in to the property, an inner brick wall that partitioned the out-building was removed. The inner wall did not span the entire width (6'), but instead jutted out by approx 3'. This was possibly used to separate the coal from the rest of the area.

The inner wall was removed 18 years ago and there haven't been any problems following this. However, a new neighbour has raised the question whether the inner wall actually provided support for part of the roof. As my Father does not want the worry of the the roof collapsing on some poor soul in the future, can someone please put his mind at rest and clariify whether he should have a lintel installed to support the roof? Or should the brick wall be rebuilt?

Many thanks for any advice given.

TF

 

[TF]

One more thing, the lintel described above is 7" high x 5" wide.
Not really sure if this is relevant or not.

TF

 

[noseall]

there will no doubt be reinforcing bars within the roof slab.

i would bet me shirt, that the roof could stand several tonnes or some fairly severe impact before collapsing.

but, us folks here cannot see the structure or know for sure how it was built.

i have removed a concrete roof before and they do take some knocking down!

ask a local builder to have a look.

 

[TF]

Many thanks for your advice noseall, I shall pass this info on to my parents.

Regards
TF