Is the lintel safe?

[jimmy86]

Hi all,

Got some serious concerns after a discovery today.

We are in the process of having some areas of rendering on the side wall of our house patched up as we were getting some damp issues and there were cracks appearing around the windows.

On removing some render over a window, the plaster discovered that there was only half a lintel in place and the rest of the space under the brick arch over the window had been filled with expanding foam.

I believe that these brick arches would have originally been in effect the lintel but with the condition of the brick work on that wall in such a poor condition and evidence of an attempt at putting a concrete lintel in, we are concerned there is a lack of structural support. This could explain the recurrent cracks in the render around the windows.

Is anyone able to offer any advice on this, or the course of action we should take? I have added a photo to make things a little clearer.


Ta,
Jimmy

Untitled

• jimmy86
• 21 Mar 2014
• 1

 

[TheVictorian]

OK, first of all the window is so small it's not going to be unsafe so you can relax a bit.

The arch should do teh job perfectly well and probably has done for a long time. Is it a lintel or just a bit of block? Its hard to tell from your photo.

 

[jimmy86]

Thanks for the reply, I feel a little reassured.

It is definitely a lintel, although it doesn't appear to be secured at all. I was just concerned because of the similar cracks in the render around all the windows on that wall and the poor condition of the brick work under the render and the fact there was a concrete lintel there is just isn't doing anything.

What would people expect to find in the space under the brick arch, am I right in thinking half a lintel and some expanding foam isn't the norm?

Cheers

 

[ree]

Its not so much a matter of safety (above the window in the pic) but the ingress of damp which the weird lintelling might be contributing to.

OP you report similar cracking in the render around other w/frames.

Is there a pattern of where damp might be entering the property?

A cleaner focus and more close up view would help. Plus pics of the other w/frames, and a pic of the whole elevation?

 

[masona]

From what I can see, you have bricks lintel

 

[ree]

Well spotted masona and TheVictorian.