Removing a small window and lintel

[Wonkyhouse]

Hi all. Long time lurker, first time poster
Hope somebody can give me a little advice. I have an 1890's end terrace with a half cellar. I recently found some damp patches in the corner of the cellar, and set out to investigate. There was a metal plate attached to the wall, which I had always assumed covered a bit of a bodge where service pipes entered the building. However, upon removing it, I have found an old window. This was a bit of a surprise, as it is about four foot under the front garden!
The window frame, etched glass and wooden lintel are all still in place, but, as they are in contact with the wet earth outside, are showing signs of rot. I think the best thing would be to remove, and brick up the gap, but am not sure the best way to go about this.
The walls are solid, two bricks deep. The window is approx. a foot and a half across, two foot deep. Firstly, is there anything anyone can think of to fill this gap rather than bricking it up (read, easier)? Secondly, for a window this sixe, would I need props etc? I was wondering if I could just remove the frame, brick up to the lintel, then remove the lintel and bricking up the gap as I did so.

 

[Gerrydelasel]

Secondly, for a window this sixe, would I need props etc?

Of course not, it's not as if the rotten window is holding the wall up!

then remove the lintel and bricking up the gap as I did so.

Why would you want to remove the lintel?

 

[Wonkyhouse]

Secondly, for a window this sixe, would I need props etc?

Of course not, it's not as if the rotten window is holding the wall up!

then remove the lintel and bricking up the gap as I did so.

Why would you want to remove the lintel?

The lintel itself is wooden and suffering from rot.

 

[Gerrydelasel]

How odd...

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

Victorian houses with basements, had a vertical slate damp course around all the buried walls to keep the water out. Often at the front of the building the soil was removed and a window was put in in a well so the room received sunlight. Now in your case it seems the well has been filled in. Leading me to think, has the damp course been put in before the soil was chucked in the hole.
The vertical damp course are prone to failure. My mate had a 2' wide time 6' deep trench dug around his large Victorian detached house and back filled with gravel to cure his dampness in the basement.
Frank

 

[Wonkyhouse]

Victorian houses with basements, had a vertical slate damp course around all the buried walls to keep the water out. Often at the front of the building the soil was removed and a window was put in in a well so the room received sunlight. Now in your case it seems the well has been filled in. Leading me to think, has the damp course been put in before the soil was chucked in the hole.
The vertical damp course are prone to failure. My mate had a 2' wide time 6' deep trench dug around his large Victorian detached house and back filled with gravel to cure his dampness in the basement.
Frank

Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to be able to do anything like that - there's a large concrete slab running in front of the house now.
I'm not massively bothered about the dampness in the cellar - I'm controlling that in a couple of other ways. It's just this window/lintel which are affected by rot due to constant contact with moisture. Floorboards, joists etc are sound. What I really need to do is remove them and replace with something less affected by damp, i.e brick. I'm just loath to start hacking away at it in case I lose three courses of bricks above.

 

[Gerrydelasel]

I'm just loath to start hacking away at it in case I lose three courses of bricks above.

It's only 18 inches across so it shoudn't be a problem. Even if some bricks did fall out, it would only be two or three forming a triangle at the top, not whole courses.

 

[Doggit]

Gerrys right, IF the bricks above the window came out, it would only be about 6 at the most, and you'd just put them back in. A more important question, is will the outside earth shift if you take the window out, so is there enough depth in the window frame to just put one layer of bricks in. You can take out the rotted lintel, and replace it with a concrete one for the first stage of the job, then determine if the window can come out. If you are only able to put one lintelin rather than 2, this may not me an issue with the concrete slab outside holding everything in place above the potentially loose triangle