lintel?

by **george-doors** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 5:55 pm

i've just femoved an old gas fire and 70s concrete surround and exposed an old back boiler which i want to remove so i can brick up the inside creating an alcove. but i,ve noticed there is no lintel above fire place and the two centre bricks have fallen out when i removed fire place.

i basicly want to know if this is normal or there should be somthing in there holding up bricks above?

by **acsimpson** » Wed Aug 19, 2009 9:07 am

What was the concrete surround you removed? Could it have been performing the job of a lintel?

by **george-doors** » Wed Aug 19, 2009 5:33 pm

i don't think so it was surface mounted fixed by two small L brackets. i would have thought there would have been some sort of lintel before the concrete surround was put in?

by **acsimpson** » Thu Aug 20, 2009 1:24 pm

It certainly doesn't sound like a lintel. I'm afraid I don't know enough to advise you on wether you need to install a lintel. It may be that your best bet is to get a structural engineer to take a look at it.

Better safe than sorry.

by **george-doors** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 11:37 am

i've installed a concrete lintel as i'm the wall is only taking its own weight its probably much more than is nececary but better safe than sorry