Lintel question

[nicknoxx]

Hi All

I'd like to enlarge the window in the kitchen, obviously this means a new lintel. Actually there's no lintel at all at present presumably because there isn't much load on the frame as the kitchen is a flat roof extension above which someone has added a dormer extension for the bathroom.

I'd like to put in a window as wide as possible so what I'm proposing will leave a brick pillar between the new window and the door only about

150mm wide. Is this going to be a problem?

There's a picture of the house as it is at present and a sketch of what I propose to do here:-

's the window to the left of the door I'm replcing. I'd be grateful for helpful comments.

Thanks

Nick

[Bob Minchin]

>>

>> It's the window to the left of the door I'm replcing. I'd be grateful

Provided the lintel is man enough for the job then it will be fine with or without the pillar. The big issue will be hanging the door off the slender pillar or if it is hung on the other side, resisting the effects of door slamming in the wind (or temper). If you must have it that narrow, maybe make the pillar from a vertical I beam with decorative brick infill on inside and outside faces and fix the window frame and door frame into the steel with appropriate fixings.

Bob

[Dave Liquorice]

Thats odd I think I can see one in the image... It's not very thick only a couple of inches but it looks to be there.

Presumably the wall is two bricks thick, I'd leave a two brick square pillar and have a single lintel across the door and window openings supported by that pillar (and the ends of course).

[82045]

Presumably the lintle will sit on 150mm of brickwork on the left hand side and not as sketched.

[nicknoxx]

You're right, I dodn't look closely at the pics before posting and for some reason thought there wasn't a lintel there even though there clearly is!

Can't, the window I'm planning to buy is slightly longer than I'd prefer but getting one made is prohibitively expensive. (Has to be timber because the house is listed)

[nicknoxx]

Yes, sketch very poor at left hand end as I was worrying about the right hand end.

[jgharston]

Is there no scope to move the window half a brick to the left?

JGH

[nicknoxx]

Nope. On the inside it's only about 30mm from an internal corner

[Hugo Nebula]

As others have pointed out, there are lintels above the door and windows. There are also two othe lintels to the right of the guy in shorts where windows or doors have been bricked up.

Your sketch shows the lintel of the widened window resting on the lintel over the door. Not good. Are you keeping the window to the right of the door? This is on a slender pier too. I would suggest a single FB lintel over all three openings. Why not go with a flag frame?

[A.Lee]

Being as you are around, I'd like to ask you a similar query. I want to knock down an internal wall between my kitchen and dining room. Single brick wall, 6 feet wide, with a door at one end. Will clearly need a steel lintel putting in, no great load above, (a line of lightweight internal wall blocks) , but I'm pretty sure the upstairs joists will be resting on it, so I dont want them to sag down.

Anyway, can I do this without getting Building Control involved? If not, what is a rough idea of the cost to apply?

I'm working on a house at the moment that had a lot more modification, with 2 big steels put in, and the Inspector was there for less than 2 minutes - the builder may as well have sent some before and after pics.

Ta Alan.

[Hugo Nebula]

Yes you can. However if you want to do it legally, then no. Removing an internal loadbearing wall counts as a structural alteration (and also affects fire safety).

Roughly? £100-200 depending on your Local Authorities charges.

Generally, a simple knock-through only requires one inspection if everything goes well to make sure the beam(s) is/are big enough, sat on something solid and has not adversely affected the rest of the structure in the process. An experienced BCO could judge these matters in two minutes. It's not possible to judge all of the above by photos alone.

[nicknoxx]

Thanks all

Clearly it would be MUCH easier to fit a slightly smaller window in the space available so I can leave a decent sized pillar between new window and door frame so that's what I'll probably do

Thanks again for good advice.

Nick