Crack in lintel above window.

[Keith650]

Hi. I have a crack in a stone lintel which is worrying me a bit. To be honest, it’s been there a few years and doesn’t seem to get any worse, but I’m wondering if it could be appropriately filled and repainted, or whether it needs completely replacing in which case I have no idea how expensive. I don’t think the crack is very deep but I don’t know what has caused it, maybe a weakness in the stone. The house is very old but all the other lintels and door frames seem absolutely fine. Any ideas what might be a good solution?

 

[opps]

Helifix bars drilled upwards and held in place with resin might work.

https://www.helifix.co.uk/applications

My experience is limited to vertical cracks in stone lintels (which require horizontal slots).

 

[CACKATALLTRADES]

My gut feeling is that this is not a DIY job but there's probably no harm in hacking the render off to inspect.
Balcony looking a bit iffy too, suspect the rebar has rusted

 

[^woody^]

You have a problem there with the lintel and the soffit within the opening.

Looks like water has got in and blown the render and maybe the lintel and soffit too. Likewise for the balcony slab and the supports above. You can't just fill it.

You need a structural engineer to advise , or a suitably qualified building surveyor.

 

[Nozzle]

Any chance that's just a crack in the render only?

Nozzle

 

[^woody^]

Always a chance. But the cracking above the oversail is indicative of a crack the the wall too and movement of the lintel support.

 

[tell80]

OP,
Block off access to the balcony - its in a possible dangerous state.
Get a SE in for a serious investigation of the balcony, its supports, the upper LH & RH recent guardrail work, and the cracks in the rendered area & lintel below.
You could knock off all the cracked or suspicious render to expose the backing materials prior to the SE's survey?
The SE must supply a written report explaining exactly whats wrong, & precisely what to do about it.

Read up about a similar construction balcony collapse in Berkeley Ca in 2015.

FWIW: I would remove the balcony and the door, & install an upper window only - with the bottom of the opening bricked up & made good.