Our house has previously had its timber loadbearing windows replaced with PVC windows. This has left the brick external course ( cavity wall construction with block, canvity, brick construction) supported by the windows which have to sag (only by less than 10 mm) and has minor cracking above the windows. As have the surrounding houes where similar worls have been done. The internal blockworm leaf is supported on a concrete lintal.
This was spoted during the survey and our concern is that this will again be identified as a problem when we come to sell. thsi is our rason for doing the work.
Questions:
(1) What are the options for supporting the brickwork? lintal ( type?),
(2)other options?like stainless steel heliforce bars( i.e thin ss bars that are grouted into the existing mortar joint.).Has anyone had this none? did you get building regulations approval
(3) would like to hear from anyone who has had this work done/ completed this work. how long did it take. any good soures of guidence? how did you support the brickwork whilst putting in a lintal
- particully on the 1 St floor windows.
Sorry for all the questions but any answers whould be greatfully received. Thanks,
would work. I'm not sure whether you'd be allowed to reinstate the original support method.
no chance
Brickwork supported by bits of wood nailed together resting on the window cill and prevented from slipping by more wood either side of the window opening.
How long I don't remmber, and it'll depend on which repair method you use.
I renovated a property which had exactly this problem. It was on a council estate, and as it happens while I was working on the property all the council-owned houses on the estate had their original timber windows replaced en masse, with uPVC - all had no lintels in the outer leaf. The strategy adopted was to yank out the old window and ram in a new uPVC one sharpish; in about two-thirds of cases they were 'successful' and in the remainder, a following builder came round within a day or two and replaced and bricks which has fallen out. Of course, it won't be long before the brickwork will be sagging nicely, with cracks all over the shop and the plastic windows completely jammed.
I did mine properly of course!, inserting lintels in the outside leaf.
It will cause you a fair amount of aggravation and money to get it done... and bear in mind you bought the house regardless, why won't your buyer do likewise? It's still a seller's market at the moment, after all.
No options - you need a steel lintel, end of story... use an L-section one, which means you just need to remove two or three courses of bricks (in the outer leaf) above each window. You don't disturb the inside at all, given that you already have lintels there.
Aren't those to prevent lateral movement etc. rather than load-bearing from above?
You shouldn't need building regs approval for what you're proposing... in my case I applied for approval various works, including replacement of all the windows, which *is* necessary. When the BCO came round for an inspection of another matter I asked his advice about the lack of external lintels, and he said it was up to me what I did about it since it was an existing situation.
Well, I used Catnic lintels - their site is pretty helpful. I used CNZ94C lintels - see p9 of the following pdf file:
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(or ) They are L-shaped in section; the bottom leg of the 'L' is just narrower than 1 brick width, and the height of the vertical leg varies according to the span of the opening. So for a small window, the vertical leg is just over 1 brick's height, but for a large one, it is about 3 bricks' height. This means that to fit these lintels, you need to take out more courses of bricks for a large window than for a small one; ie, large windows take disproportionately longer to do - especially as with a small window you can easily get away with no temporary support. So 'how long does it take?' - well, for a diddy window, 2-3 hours maybe; for a big one, a day?
Brickwork support - for a small window, and depending on the state of the brickwork above - none required. For a larger one, the easiest thing is to use Acrow props and Strongboys (number depends on the span). For the 1st floor windows, I agonised for some time about how to support the brickwork (and the roof!) but realised that in my case at least, the construction of the house was such that the roof was supported by the inner leaf, not the outer, and given that there were only three or four courses of bricks between the top of the windows and the eaves, it was a non-issue. IIRC for most windows the upper bricks stayed put temporarily, and in one we just removed all the upper bricks and replaced them with the lintel. A scaffolding tower was required, by the way.
Replace plastic windows with d/g timber loadbearing windows.
The increase in house value from having nice timber windows is unlikely to offset the full cost of the work being done, but as you have to do something pretty drastic anyway you might as well benefit from any gains available.
A steel catnic should will pick up both inner and outer leaves, and the bulk of it protrudes up into the cavity. So it does not add much if any depth to the supported bricks. (a couple of mm possibly)
Helibars work well for joining vertical and diagonal cracks, when you can run the bars in a horizontal mortar joint. Not so easy to use them in a vertical direction to stop the lower bricks dropping.
You could use a short acrow with a strongboy prop on the end. That will let you get the lintel in place without too much obstruction. You can pack any final gaps with slate and mortar in place.
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