How to hide a concrete Lintel

[bombata]

Hello,

I hope you can help me. I live in a 1960s purpose build terrace house and am in the process of renovating it. In order to give our house more light we widened the kitchen door and created a new window opening.

I trusted the guy who I hired to create the window opening and fit the lintel, as he said he had experience in building it and he asked me to buy two concrete lintels. When I asked him whether I should buy a cavity lintel he said no not necessary. Now he fitted the lintel in my yellow brick house and the doors are in but it looks awful. Building Control came round and said it was ok.

However I am really upset every time I go into the garden and look at the window and the door. Also he has not even cut the brick very evenly.

Now I was wondering if there is a nice way of covering up the concrete lintel? We cannot render the wall as we live in a terrace house and our house would look out of place. Also we do not have the money to render a whole house. Can we paint it? But that looks awful as well. Can we cover it somehow? We do not have the money to take out the lintel and fit the doors again.

Untitled

• bombata
• 21 Oct 2014
• 1

Any advice would very much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[loply]

If I were you, I'd get some bricks that match, and lay them in a solider course over the lintel to hide it.

You would need to cut the face off the bricks so that you end up with basically a really thin brick - say about 10-15mm thick.

I would just glue them on with Sticks Like Sh!t or something like that, then point with cement. Use a bit of wood temporarily fixed underneath so they don't sag before the adhesive sets.

The end result will be a "proud soldier course".

 

[bombata]

Oh thanks that is a great idea. I found this company. Maybe I can buy these tiles without having to slice the tiles?
http://www.reclaimedbrick-tile.com/products/brick-tiles/london-yellow/

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Holy Cow!!!!!

Anyway, it could be a deception but it looks like the door is almost flush with the front of the wall, it ought to be set back about 50mm or so, if not it will be more vulnerable to leaks.

 

[bombata]

Thanks! I think its a deception. The window company put lots of rubber on the sides to seal the wonky cut doors

 

[loply]

I suppose you could buy those brick tiles and slice them up, but, you'll literally have to cut every brick out as you won't get a 'soldier' pattern out of that... Which will probably end up being more effort (and I bet more expensive!) than just cutting a normal brick.

By my count you only need 16 bricks, one tub of premixed mortar, one tube of adhesive... Should get change from £20!

You can cut the bricks with a small angle 4" grinder, just cut both sides as deep as you can get then it will crack. You can get such a grinder for about £20 if you haven't got one already.

Obviously a 9" grinder or a stihl saw will make it quicker, but for 16 bricks they would only take 2 minutes anyway... entire job would be done in an hour...

 

[DHFrames]

Thanks! I think its a deception. The window company put lots of rubber on the sides to seal the wonky cut doors

Is that the work of a window company?? Or has someone else made the cut down the brickwork and then they've installed the doors?

 

[loply]

I didn't even notice the wonky brickwork to the right of the door! Looks like you have the same situation with a concrete lintel above the window on the left too!

 

[Gazman16]

If that was a window company I think they should be named and shamed!

The cuts on the brickwork are diabolical.
Neither the door or the window lintel appear to overhang by 150mm to both sides? I'm assuming this hasn't been signed off by building control?

 

[honda]

Unfortunately the two-tone pipework which I assume comes from the bathroom doesn't help the overall appearance either.

 

[bombata]

No building control came round and signed it off. I paid £335 building notice fee to spelthorne council.

It was not the window company who cut the bricks but the same builder who fitted the lintels.

I told him that I am not happy and he just said I should paint around it. I want him to replace the bricks to straighten up the work but I don't want to pay again.

Is there no way of me fixing this whole situation without removing the door again?

 

[Gazman16]

T save taking out the brickwork and doors etc it your looking to keep costs down and just tidy things up this is what I would do:

Get some fascia capping board to cover the lintel cut it with an equal overhang either side. Neatly silicone around and above it.

The use some thin rigid angle trim on the 2 sides, It usually comes in 25x25mm or 45x45mm so you may need to trim down the edge that meats the door frame.

You should be able to get these bits from a local Eurocell branch or other fascia place

 

[Cabbyfan]

When he did the job did he support the outer wall ? Looking above the horizontal waste pipe there looks like a run of loose or disturbed bricks and missing mortar ?

Have to say this job looks like it should be in an episide of Watchdog ! No was was it done by an experienced builder and the building control fees you paid seem very steep indeed, I paid about that for my entire loft and associated works.

 

[bombata]

I have not got the builder to come back, and he said he will remove the bricks on the wonky cut window, and replace them with new bricks.

However I will need to find matching bricks now? And I only need about 16 or so of them.

Do you know where I could get them? I was going to look at Travis Perkins, but they only sell to trade?

Thanks for every bodies replies so far.

 

[Cabbyfan]

Travis Perkins will sell to anyone, I have a cash account plus if you go in a lot and buy stuff they will give you better pricing too.

Looks relatively recent build so getting matching bricks should be ok.