Hanging a joist hanger from a concrete lintel

Apr 23, 2008 7 Replies

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Tim Downie 18 years ago

We're have an internal wall removed and to hold the upstairs up, a concrete lintel is going in. Rather late in the day I realised that the depth of the lintel (9"), if placed under the upstairs floor joists, is going to make a sizeable impression on the headroom downstairs.

It occured to me that if joist hangers could be fitted to the lintel, then the lintel could be placed 6" higher up (the depth of the upstairs joists).

I'll ask my builder tomorrow (who I'm sure knows the answer to this) but I just thought I'd ask here in case he does any teeth sucking and muttering along the lines of "Can't be done squire" etc. etc..

Tim

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jim 18 years ago

I wouldn't fancy using a concrete lintel - I would beware of holes (for hangers) would probly weaken it too much. Are you still allowed to use a good ole RSJ - timber beams can be accomodated each side of the "I" section (that "I" should be in Courier font or it don't make sense!) and litle or nothing to protrude below ceiling level..... hope it helps Jim

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Tanner-'op 18 years ago

Tim,

Is it not possible to use a timber 'trimmer' joist between the existing floor joists to support the stairs at the correct level?

Tanner-'op

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Tim Downie 18 years ago

I'm sure we could but that would mean paying for a structural engineer (again) so I was wondering if we could just deal with what has already been passed by the BCO.

Tim

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Phil L 18 years ago

A 9 inch concrete lintel? - who decided to use that?

1) steel is far superior 2) it's also cheaper 3) and lighter 4) and stronger 5) and the joists can sit in the web

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<me9 18 years ago

It's difficult to fit existing joists in the web, at least on one side.

The web could be filled with timber and the existing trimmed joists fitted with joist hangers.

Or else just fit two trimmers with a filch plate.

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Tim Downie 18 years ago

With hindsight steel would have been better but I am neither a builder or an architect and didn't realise the potential problem with the concrete lintel until now.

Tim

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Hugo Nebula 18 years ago

On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:17:20 +0100, a particular chimpanzee, "Tim Downie" randomly hit the keyboard and produced:

What's the span of the opening? Does it have any other beams supported on it at right angles? If it's a straight-forward uniformly-loaded beam (which if it isn't, PCC concrete usually isn't the best choice), you may find the BCO would be willing to accept a straight substitution of a steel beam for a concrete one. IME, the kind of loads that a 9" PCC lintel will span will probably only need a

178 or a 203x102 UB.

If you have had calcs for the concrete lintel already, that's the hard part already done. 75% of engineers will use calculation software, so it should be a simple matter to click the tick box for 'steel' rather than 'concrete' and run the calcs again. 20% will be able to do it on the back of an envelope. The other 5% probably got the lintel manufacturer to do the work for free and charged you.

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