No lintel above external door!

[spannerzone]

Hi, been living in a 100 year old house for 2 years and slowly repairing/renovating it. Now there is a brick addition at the back (was bath/toilet years ago) and is now a utility room and the main back door.

It's pretty clear that the construction of this is somewhat shoddy and there doesn't appear to be anything other than the small door timber that holds up the bricks above. Clearly the previous owner has 'repaired' the bricks as they've sunk over the years although it's not shifted any more since we've moved in. So basically it's luck and some very thin wood holding up a fair few bricks and roof above so I'm guess some form of lintel needs putting above the doorway and keyed into the main house brickwork?

I've removed a strip of plasterboard just on the inside top to see inside and can see bricks sitting on a strip of plastic (like a damp proof membrane) which in turn sits on the top wood frame. The wood only supports the front bricks and some form of anti gravity holds up the inner breezeblock (I thinK) wall!

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Any comments appreciated (other than keep the door shut until it's fixed )

 

[lgbrickwork]

i'm guessing that that door has been fitted more recently and is taller than the original door, the brickwork thats been repointed/relaid on the outer skin is just whats come away/cracked when installing the new door. It should have a lintel but is unlikely to cause any problems. The plastic underneath the blockwork on the internal is probably the old tray that used to lap down onto the original brickwork. depending on the ceiling level, it would be quite easy to put in a concrete lintel here or maybe you could get away with a "L" shaped lintel ( probably have to put it in back to front), just carefully chase out a bed on each side of the door.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

In actual fact the head of the frame is only supporting half a dozen bricks or so, not the roof above.

 

[hotrod]

I would leave it as is for now - it's not distorting the head of the frame, this is a incorrect but common detail (no lintel) in older builds. As an aside if the inner skin is breeze block that isn't the original construction.

 

[KenGMac]

Have a look at the Helifix system, google it and you will see the principles.

basically you cut a chase in the mortar bed, clean it out and insert some of the resin, introduce the reinforcing twisted bar, put more resin over the Reinforcing and in a few mins it will be ready to mortar up.

Drawback in this situation is you can not guarantee the fixing at the main wall of the property, You would need to bore an oversized hole and fill it with resin them proceed as normal.

This system is used extensively by insurance repairers on structural cracks, basically cheap and fast, and it works

 

[spannerzone]

Thanks for all your replies, I guess it would make sense that this happened when a bigger door was fitted sometime back..... the bricks show being hacked somewhat around the door frame.

My main concern is what is holding up the inner breezeblocks (as mentioned, I guess they were retrofitted later on at some poin)

Anyhow, it hasn't fallen down or shows any signs of movement since we've been here (2 yrs) so I guess it's not an immediete problem, when we replace the door I guess we'll need a builder in to make sure it's all safe and tidied up.

Thanks once again.

 

[hotrod]

It doesn't look an issue externally and I don't think you have got anything to worry about. But if you're concerned about the internal masonry post a pic.

 

[lgbrickwork]

Thanks for all your replies, I guess it would make sense that this happened when a bigger door was fitted sometime back..... the bricks show being hacked somewhat around the door frame.

My main concern is what is holding up the inner breezeblocks (as mentioned, I guess they were retrofitted later on at some poin)

Anyhow, it hasn't fallen down or shows any signs of movement since we've been here (2 yrs) so I guess it's not an immediete problem, when we replace the door I guess we'll need a builder in to make sure it's all safe and tidied up.

Thanks once again.

I wouldn't worry about it, you would be suprised at what can stay up unsupported once the cement has dried, the doors not more than 900mm wide, so even at worse there will only be 3 blocks unsupported, more than likely its only 1 and as long as the perp joint is full, it would take quit alot for it to fall down

 

[spannerzone]

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The black line behind the top wood frame is where I removed a 1inch strip of plasterboard to see what was above. I can see the thin black plastic on top of wooden frame and bricks sitting on that. Not sure about the inner wall as I haven't wanted to disturb too much plaster.

 

[hotrod]

View media item 37957I haven't wanted to disturb too much plaster.

If there was anything major to worry about the plaster would have disturbed itself .