Replacing internal doorframes

[samohtom]

Hi. I'm replacing some internal doors and doing the whole lot, frames and all. Picture of the top of the rough opening for one is below. Are internal doors meant to have lintels? Only I don't see one...are they something you would see in this case? I've run a stud metal detector thing over the area and there is stuff there, but it could just be the wire mesh type stuff they use around doorways to stabilise the plaster. This is in a structural wall which is made of grey breeze block type material, though it appears to have bricks above the opening. If it helps it's a ground floor purpose built flat (1973). It appears to be perfectly stable as far as I can tell. I've built another door frame and was going to put it in place & pack above the frame like you pack the jambs.

cheers

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[misterhelpful]

There is a probably a lintel above that course of bricks and they have been used to fill the void.

Otherwise, as it is a purpose built flat I would imagine there is some form of support system/RSJ for the upper floor/s within the ceiling.

 

[noseall]

Non-structural partition walling, i.e. masonry walls that do not support anything above, would not necessarily have a lintel above the door casing. In some instances the frame would be installed as the wall is being built with the masonry above the door opening being built off the frame.

There are lightweight lintels available for this purpose.

 

[samohtom]

Thanks guys. Turns out there is a lintel (at least I assume so) because when I removed the adjacent cupboard door frame it had a steel one there. I'm assuming the course of bricks is because the lintel for the door I posted about is above this cupboard one (they're supported by the same bit of wall) and so the bricks were just to fill the gap.

cheers

Tom