I'd appreciate some advice please.
I'm building a two storey extension which is going OK and I'm approaching first floor level. There's a 2.4M opening which is spanned by a concrete lintel on the outer leaf and a steel universal beam set on padstones on the inner leaf (as per the SE's specification).
The concrete lintel is 140mm (2 brick courses) deep which is fine but, the steel beam is only 127mm deep. To maintain the coursing above the opening I'd like to keep the top of the lintel and beam at the same height (which would also give me some additional room for fitting the fire protection to the beam).
I'm looking for advice on the best way to make up the 13mm difference.
I've considered a couple of options ----
1) Lay a 3mm thick piece of slate on a 10mm mortar bed under the padstones.
2) Cut 62mm off the bottom off the padstones (I've already had them made) and lay an extra course of bricks below them.
Any thoughts?
I'm building a two storey extension which is going OK and I'm approaching first floor level. There's a 2.4M opening which is spanned by a concrete lintel on the outer leaf and a steel universal beam set on padstones on the inner leaf (as per the SE's specification).
The concrete lintel is 140mm (2 brick courses) deep which is fine but, the steel beam is only 127mm deep. To maintain the coursing above the opening I'd like to keep the top of the lintel and beam at the same height (which would also give me some additional room for fitting the fire protection to the beam).
I'm looking for advice on the best way to make up the 13mm difference.
I've considered a couple of options ----
1) Lay a 3mm thick piece of slate on a 10mm mortar bed under the padstones.
2) Cut 62mm off the bottom off the padstones (I've already had them made) and lay an extra course of bricks below them.
Any thoughts?