fix a concrete lintel

[Gazz]

Just wondering how this would be done really, it's a rented house so i wont be doing it,

Bungalow built in 1946, brick construction, above the front door is a concrete lintel, reinforced, it's been cracked for some time, water got in and has rusted the reinforcing bar that runs along the length of it, forcing the rain drip ledge part to fall off this morning.

What would be the repair method? i guess the 'proper' way to do it would be to remove the old lintel and bung in a new un, but i doubt that's going to happen, drill in some bits of rebar sticking out 90 degrees to the lintel, and cast a new bit onto it? clean the face up and stick a pvc drain lip thingy to it?

[Andrew Mawson]

thingy to it?

Waste of time trying to fix it. Either remove, shutter up, and cast one in situ, or slide a replacement in and make the brickwork good above.

AWEM

[andrew]

I'll second that about the repair, wouldn't cast in situ, but you need to use strongboys and take out at least two courses of bricks above the lintel or replace with catnic. Concrete plank lintels depend on the bond to the courses above to be under sideways compression load while they take the tensile stress.

AJH AJH

[Tabby]

Whatever you do the lintel itself isnt repairable, as it'll continue to rust, and break open again. If for whatever reason you dont want to replace it, just face it with somehing that doesnt mind slight movement. I'm assuming it onyl covers a normal front door in a brick wall, and thus doesnt need replacing for structural reasons (hypothetically if you sawed it in half it would still work, it would be cantilevered).

NT

[andrew]

This assumption depends on knowing which way the ceiling joists and rafters carry the roof.

AJH

[Tabby]

It has nothing to do with the set up of the ceilings or joists. You could remove those, in principle, and the setup would still work. On a typical door you've got about 2.5 feet of span, and 6" overlap at each end of the lintel. Saw it in half and you get 1.25' holding up half a small triangle of bricks above the door, and 0.5' with a whole storey of bricks atop it. Obviously its not as per original design, but it certainly works. Some lintels are a big deal, some are really a lot less so.

NT