window hole in concrete wall

[Art]

We have a reinforced poured concrete basement walls. One wall has a window about 4 feet wide by 40 inches tall in it 2 feet from the top of the wall. The wall is a nominal 10 inches thich. There is no steel over the window. Should there be? I am the guy that posted about the Jacuzi support where the Jacuzzi is partially sticking out cantilevered over this window. Engineer came today and looked at the joist issues inside the house but after he left I realized the window was just in a hole. By the way, the outside is brick veneer and there is a steel lentil holding up the brick over the window as there should be but it is not holding up the concrete wall above the window.

Back to the Jacuzi issue from last week:

As far as strengthing the joists, he pointed out that my vision sucked. I had thought and previously posted that I had a cantilevered box and the rim joist was attached to a joist that was part of the main house floor system. Turns out there is a triple joist there parallel to the wall and the perpendicular joists that make up the cantilever sit in joist hangers attached to one of the triple joists. We didn't discuss it but I believe his analysis assumed that the triple were well attached to each other. They are not but they will be before I am done. Even so he thought that there would be too much deflection and I should add a 4th joist or angle iron to the triple joist. He didn't feel it had to go span all the way to the support beams but he thought I should go as far as possible to stiffen it up.

[Nick Hull]

If there is no steel rebar inside the concrete over the window opening you are in trouble

[hallerb]

run metal detector around window rebar is probably there

[Doug]

Why do you say the above? I've seen concrete, perhaps a foot or two in height over basement windows without any rebar or other reinforcements. It depends a lot on the strength of the concrete mix. Some of these homes/basements were nearly a century old.

The Romans used concrete (they invented concrete) in aqueducts now over 2000 years old that still stand. They didn't use steel rebar.

Doug

[Nick Hull]

But they used arches and did not leave the top of windows/doors flat as is the current custom with rebarred concrete

[Art]

I hope you are right. This window is about 5 feet wide by 4 foot high. 2 feet of concrete above it. Jacuzzi above that and a second story above that. It has been there 10 years so my guess is that there is rebar in the concrete but on the other hand I have had to fix so many major structural issues in this house that I take nothing for granted. (There was no flashing used in the brick veneer, almost no brick ties, the underground drainage system was plugged with concrete, the plumbing holes used thru the concrete walls were formed with perforated drainage tile type hose and was not removed when the oversized hole was filled with cement, the triple joists intended to hold the cantilever for the jacuzi were not fastened together as a unit, most of the steel lentils were too short,........ much much more.)