MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
anyone had a lintel replaced recently? just discovered one of the small hall windows lintel is blown. looks like water has got into it and has cracked as you can see the reinforcement has rusted too. 1930s era.
probably been like it for a significant amount of time to be that state, so whilst not urgent I want to get it sorted before I move onto decorating that part of the house
got to love old buildings.....should have got a new build....
oh. window is approx 120cm wide
Can't see the photo. Is it aesthetic or structural ?
If it is concrete with rusted rebar, you can repair them by taking back to the rebar, treating it and with the aid of a DIY mould and special concrete.
I've just replaced 8 rotten wooden lintels with reinforced concrete ones, most of mine were 1200mm long for 900mm apertures. Under £10 each, took about a morning to cut out the old, and replace with new. This assumes that the supporting brickwork was in some sort of order (my house was built by a blind brickie or in the dark I think, they didn't worry too much about straight/level/vertical in ye olde days). If that needed sorting it was a few hours work the day before with the old lintel supported on props.
As the lintels had sagged the brick triangle of shame had slumped above them, and taking them out, cleaning them and rebuilding took a few hours per lintel.
Pricewise no idea as I did it myself, but a days work will probably cover it, whatever that is these days.
Ps, worth investigating what caused the rust. My lintels were rotted because of failed render holding water in, an interior lintel should be dry, so is water getting into the wall somewhere? Dodgy render, failed pointing etc.
no photos I'm afraid.
I'm assuming the lintel is structural. the top half of the house is mock tutor and pebbledash, and it seems the timber was just fixed direct to the lintel. so probably water has got in behind the boards via the fixing points. no render on that section. not entirely sure on the best way to fix.
I'd be nervous about whipping out the lintel without some form of support to hold it all up whilst I did it. even if it's a narrow opening
I'll have a look at repair kits, tbh I'd rather put a new one in if it's not that much bother so I know it's sorted for the next 50+ years.
Doesn't sound a huge job for a builder. a day of a couple of guys then.
Hire or buy a prop and a strong boy (the right angle section that fits on top of the prop and pokes under the masonry)
Pretty cheap from someone like Activo.
I thought this was about running Linux on x86.