Above my lounge window (2.4 meters wide) the first course of bricks is unsupported. There is a lintel supporting the next course up, but the first course is effectively resting on the window frame. It' looks terrible and as im going to replace the windows, i would like to get this fixed at the same time. Anyone got any novel ways of rectifying this?
Single course of bricks unsupported
- Thread starter williamglossop
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That's weird! Do you think you the bricklayers counted wrongly when forming the opening?
No idea why it' like that- flippin annoying tho. I did consider a bigger window, but the inside reveal matches the top of the exisiting window, i.e. a steel reinforced concrete lintel on the inner leaf of the cavity that finishes at the height of the existing window. If i fit a bigger window, the inside reveal will bit at the wrong height. The cavity tray comes down on top of the existing window frame.
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I was considering bonding the course of bricks together using styrene resin and then pointing them up.....
Where bricks are in laid on the top of a plastic frame, with expansion and contraction of the plastic and every time a window is opened and closed and rattles the frame, the movement moves the bricks and the joints crack.
More likely is that the window is a PVC replacement, and that the manufacturer made it too small top-to-bottom by about 80mm, so the fitters packed an additional course of brick over it.
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True but how did they get such a good brick match? I'd expect them to have jammed a handy bit of wood across to make up the gap and painted it to match.
The only people who would have had the bricks to hand would be on the original build.
The other option is the lintel was retro fitted but I'm still not sure how that works.
The brick bonding above that window is horrendous. There are even 3/4 bricks thrown in there in various staggered locations, meaning the bond is completely haphazard.
I don't think they made it too small, as if you look at the top of the reveal the brickwork going over the top does not match the reveal brickwork.
When that was built it was quite common to run the brickwork over a timber window.
My guess is that when the window was replaced some bricks dropped a bit, and a piece of angle iron shorter than the frame was stuck in and the same bricks replaced, or maybe that is was built with the steel one course above the frame leaving the bottom course to drop.
If you are getting the frame replaced you may as well get the right lintel installed.
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I've removed the course of bricks now - they were siliconed in . The angle iron spans the entire window and was obviously built like that originally.
In order to insert an angle iron at the correct height, i would need to remove the one that is already there, ie to get a new one to fit in.
It's a lot of messing about to get 1 course of bricks to look right....
Any ideas on what it would cost to get it done?
In order to insert an angle iron at the correct height, i would need to remove the one that is already there, ie to get a new one to fit in.
It's a lot of messing about to get 1 course of bricks to look right....
Any ideas on what it would cost to get it done?
Traditional construction
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