I have a quote for fitting a lintel above the lounge window. There is a history of how this double glazed window got to be installed without a lintel but that's another story.
The worry is of course that if things go wrong the front of the house comes crashing down.
The builder has Public Liability Insurance and is a regular user of Acrow props.
I'm seeing him tomorrow to finalise the specs - what else do I need to look out for? Does Builder's Public Liability usually cover damage they may cause to properties they work on?
How wide is the window? Does the brickwork above it look sound? Is the window coming out whilst the lintel is fitted, or being left in situ.
If the brickwork is sound, and didn't move when the previous window was removed and this one fitted (I assume that's what happened?) chances are it won't move now while a couple of courses are removed to make way for a lintel.
If there's a danger of it moving, the builder will need to remove some bricks above lintel level and put temporary beams in place. I think there are some fancy ones which work from one side without needing props
*inside* the house. However, if there are any ceiling joist supported by the wall immediately over the window, it may be necessary to prop the ceiling during this operation.
The lintel itself will probably need to be fitted from the inside if it's taller that side than on the outside - which many are.
Whatever happens, the house is unlikely to collapse. the worst that will happen is that a triangular chunk will come out above the window and will have to be re-built.
Thanks. The window is on the outside skin - there is no cavity but the original (1860) windows were half the width and the outer boundary of your blue dots is structured as an arch.
What happened was when an earlier wooden frame was removed for the double glazing to be fitted some of the bricks must have move and we now get water ingress. The plaster at the top of the window is damaged and it precludes redecorating. There is the slightest of bows on the top edge due to the weight of the bricks - hence I've decided to get a lintel fitted. I'm told it will go one course above the window and well into the brickwork either side.
OK - just wanted the reassurance that he won't back out of fixing any accidental damage on that part or any other part of the work.
I don't know what is there. It's double brick - no cavity, 150yrs old but well constructed house.
I should have had a lintel put in at the time of the double glazing but was persuaded that the aluminium frame would be strong enough. The fitters were really only interested in getting the window in, they were not builders.
Sounds like they were cowboys! If the new window was twice the width of the old one, there must have been some building (or un-building) work done to widen the aperture. Whoever did that should have known that a lintel was needed.
It really takes a catalog of utterly ignorant mistakes to cause anything to go awry.
Lintels are sized according to load:
- Floor & Roof loads mean a taller lintel
- Struc Eng will confirm loads & provide figures
Lintel end bearings need to be 150mm:
- Last one I did here on a door & floor had 19mm and was a 4x2 laid SIDEWAYS
- It came out as an emergency replacement as the doorframe moved, jamming the door, as I was storing quite a lot of stuff on the floor above and one joist was toast from lot hence a bit of a point load in the centre
Lintel bearings most likely brick, unlikedly pad stones:
- Unless you have a multi-storey house the load is likely to be modest
Props are necessary:
- Needles left in & dangling on wall ties are out
- Acrows & strongboy are in, propping the inside joists if they terminate likewise
- Load spreaders for the props are important, typically 6x2 floor & ceiling
Mortar takes time to go off:
- Lintel level, mortar must be let to set not run with the props 24hrs later
Cowboy is basically a piece of 4x2 slipped in and hoping the brickwork above hangs on its wall ties and repoint the triangle crack. If you see things being done correctly (plenty of instruction online) there is nothing to worry about.
Strapping may be necessary to joists in some cases, altho unlikely (and in any case beneficial if you have any odd movement in an older house).
Your building insurance is very UNLIKELY to provide cover for 3rd party building work. It may (many do) provide cover for you DIYing the demolish of your house, but it will not if you pay someone else to do it :-)
Quite a few houses had cowboy window installs and brick DOES drop in a triangle above. Unsightly and niggling surveyors make a fuss about it. Fixing it, well, better done now than trying to rush later if you get an urgent selling/move need.
No - the wooden window which was replaced was already this width and that was put in well before my time. It was then the lintel should have been put in. The double glazers just replaced that window and we discussed the lintel issue but it wasn't in their remit. I made a couple of enquiries and as usual no builder actually turned up to quote let alone do the job so the double glazed window just went in. As they had to support the brickwork then some movement occured.
Eh eh - I could just about do it myself with those detailed instructions.
It's not my building insurance that I was referring to but the proposed builder's Public Liability insurance.
My priority is to stop the cause of the water ingress and relieve the pressure on the aluminium frame and struts. Once that is done and the internal plastering sorted SWMBO can get her internal decoration and I can get some peace.
I had typed, then deleted, a comment about water ingress as I guessed that may be visible!
Out of curiosity, since the original window install is somewhat suspect, does the aluminium frame employ a thermal break? On some you can get running water without any other undue provocation (cold bridging).
Possibly a terminology issue but I'd expect the cover required to be third party liability rather than public liability. Either way I'd expect to see a proper description of the cover in place.
If they had used extrusions with a thermal bridge, any day the temperature outside is low enough to cause the inner aluminium surface to fall below th e dew point of that room it will suffer condensation (running water condens ation).
Sounds like ok window frame, just made a dogs breakfast of the install as i nstallers can get cash-in-hand fixed-price install and the next job awaits.
You have to be really dumb to muck up a lintel insertion if you have the ri ght equipment... sort of dumber than the worst apprentice after a night out :-) Generally collapses occur when people are removing supporting walls to open plan a shop and do not get a S/E to check what is holding up the wall s or inadequate props.
If there's a thermal break, the aluminium sections will be in two pieces, joined by an insulating material such as resin. See:
formatting link
[Sorry about the length of the link. If it doesn't work, Google for "thermal break aluminium profiles"]
You won't be able to see the break if there are no opening windows but - if some do open - but you should be able to see it on the outer edge of the openers and on the inner edge of the outer frame - i.e. the faces perpendicular to the glass.
Oh I see now - no we don't have any of those - but then again as mentioned we don't have a problem with the glazing itself. I guess the inside never gets warm enough and a coal fire adds ventilation.
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