Hello, Im new to the forum but would appreciate some expertise. I have just had the pebbledash chipped off my house and it has uncovered some wooden lintels, the walls are 2 foot thick mixed stone but 4 windows have wooden lintels above them that the builders recomended replacing them with concrete. How big a job is this, will there need to be supports put in before the lintel can be removed? There are alot of handymen around ireland who will take on a job and we're very rural so a true tradesman can be hard to find. I wanted to have a basic understanding before I get someone in.
Looking at your pic I'd leave well alone, after all nothing happened in all the years the building been up. Why have you removed the pebbledash, the brickwork is rough to say the least and at the very least needs repointing and some bricks replacing.
I would be quite tempted to replace all the lintels to concrete, as they are now exposed so will make things that bit easier,, still going to be quite a job to tidy up everything. Not worked on this type of build before. Is the wooden lintel 2ft wide? The picture shows some rot to the left hand side of the wooden lintel. wouldn't look at using a handyman,
I did wonder that. Whatever way round it is this job needs tackling seriously otherwise order a large skip.
Hence my leave It alone reply, this is not a simple job to replace the lintels, that brick/stonework above the timber is not stable at all and will almost certainly come crashing down if disturbed.
It's not just a question of replacing the lintel either. Wooden lintels work just fine - unless you render the outside of your house with Portland cement. The fact that you have wooden lintels suggests that your house was constructed before WW2, in which case, it will have used lime mortar for the brickwork. Lime works just fine with wooden lintels, as it breathes and allows moisture to evaporate naturally from the walls. If you cover it with Portland, you will trap that moisture inside the wall and the lintel will rot. I spend a good deal of my time correcting the horrors which have been committed against properties of this age, by allegedly professional builders.
Thanks for all the advice, I had the pebble dash removed because I hate the stuff, the house couldn't breathe as it we cement based and we're suffering with damp internally. there was lovely stone underneath the main section of the house which was part uncovered when an old porch was removed, I was hoping the whole house was done but unfortunately the 2 end sections are block as they are extensions. I am having the stone repointed with lime and the brick around the window will need some replacing. My plan is to render smooth the block work and then add artificial stone to the corner quoins and porch to blend all in
It needs further investigation from inside, if the walls are 2ft thick. Is the wooden lintel one piece? It may be in smaller sections to make up the width. May have to remove plaster from inside to investigate.
It looks like the lintels are in good condition and if they were starting to give way there would have been stress cracks in the render. Originally I the house would have had a coat of lime render on the outside that would have protected the lintel. If you want to keep the older sections as stonework, I would suggest that you either put a small porch or canopy to keep the weather off the lintel or do a little lime render moulding around the doorway
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