Joists sitting on concrete lintel

[Aaron Jones]

I am looking at replacing my victorian house floor joists and floorboards.

I've consulted a builder friend who advised replacing the original wooden timber lintel above the cellar entrance where 2 floor joists are resting on the lintel, he suggested replacing it with a concrete lintel but I have looked online and it is suggested it would be a bad thing.

Looking for advice shall I replace it with a wooden timber lintel like the original?

Thanks

 

[tony1851]

The reason concrete would not be optimum is that they don't like concentrated 'point' loads, such as you get from floor joists; they are best carrying a distributed load.
Just replace like-for-like or, if damp is likely to be a problem, consider something like box-section steel, eg 100 x 100.