Padstone help needed

[aland123]

Hi, I was hoping someone could give me a bit of advice, I am removing a wall and supporting it with an rsj the building inspector has told me to use an 8x5 rsj and to use 12" padstones, are these something I would buy or should I use shuttering and fabricate them myself? If so would I use a standard sand and cement mix and what ratio? I thank you in advance, Alan

 

[mikric]

Use pre cast concrete lintels cut down from your builders merchant, or blue engineering bricks.Did he specify how deep your padstone should be ?

 

[aland123]

thanks, no he said they should be 12" long and 4" wide any idea how deep they should be?

 

[mikric]

Depends really ! I would ask him .Could be a simple 75mm or 150mm is required, if blue bricks 3 courses is the norm.

 

[Shytalkz]

2 courses is fine

 

[amwc]

It depends on how much the lintel is bearing onto the pad stone.

 

[Shytalkz]

That's assuming the padstone needs to be anywhere near the size the BCO has told the OP to put in the first place, of course (and depending if the padstone is a right angles or in the same plane as the beam).

 

[alittlerespect]

Hi

The BCO is trying to get you to spread the load, as the exisiting bricks will not have the compressive strength to cope with the point loading. Easiest solution is to get a pre-stressed concrete lintel and cut the length down to the required size. Thickness of a prestressed lintel is not an issue, standard lintels are approximately 3" x 4" x length and fit in with a brick course.

Personally speaking I would want to see the padstone spanning at least 2 full brick lengths which equates to a minimum of 18".

If you are a DIY'r and assuming you go down the pre-stressed route get hold of an angle grinder (4" will do) cut through the reinforcing on the uderside of the lintel then break the lintel's back with a club hammer, job 1/2 way done.

Regards

 

[aland123]

Thanks for all your advice, today saw us finishing the job, BCO comes on monday, hopefully all ok!