Hi all,
I'm remodeling a bedroom in my 1930's semi, which I bought last year.
Once I'd taken off several layers of old wallpaper, much of the plaster was cracked and blown, particularly around the windows. Having removed the old plaster I've found that the lintels above both windows are cracked through their full height and depth - I can even see a daylight through the crack in one of them!
The lintel construction is cast-in-situ concrete with a very-slightly-arched soldier arch on the outside (which is cracked in same place). I have cavity walls, but from drilling a couple of test holes, the lintel appears to be solid - (i.e. the concrete was cast against the back of the bricks that form the soldier arch). As far as I can tell the lintels contain no steel reinforcement, and the concrete seems very soft.
See photo:
Interestingly, the lintels appear to have no bearing on the wall - so I'm not sure what's holding them up other than the wooden window frames!
Am I correct to assume complete replacement of the lintel is the only way to resolve this? If it was a standard concrete lintel supported on the inner leaf only I'd be reasonably confident in doing this myself, but as it's cast-in-situ I suspect the whole lot will need to be taken out and rebuilt, including the external soldier arch.
Any advice much appreciated.
I'm remodeling a bedroom in my 1930's semi, which I bought last year.
Once I'd taken off several layers of old wallpaper, much of the plaster was cracked and blown, particularly around the windows. Having removed the old plaster I've found that the lintels above both windows are cracked through their full height and depth - I can even see a daylight through the crack in one of them!
The lintel construction is cast-in-situ concrete with a very-slightly-arched soldier arch on the outside (which is cracked in same place). I have cavity walls, but from drilling a couple of test holes, the lintel appears to be solid - (i.e. the concrete was cast against the back of the bricks that form the soldier arch). As far as I can tell the lintels contain no steel reinforcement, and the concrete seems very soft.
See photo:
Interestingly, the lintels appear to have no bearing on the wall - so I'm not sure what's holding them up other than the wooden window frames!
Am I correct to assume complete replacement of the lintel is the only way to resolve this? If it was a standard concrete lintel supported on the inner leaf only I'd be reasonably confident in doing this myself, but as it's cast-in-situ I suspect the whole lot will need to be taken out and rebuilt, including the external soldier arch.
Any advice much appreciated.
