Hi All, I live in the top two floors of a three-story house in Hong Kong, where houses are made from reinforced concrete. The ground-floor apartment has recently been sold and the new owner has decided to create a new doorway about 2 metres wide at the side of the house. The builder thinks there is no need to install a lintel over this span. He has knocked out the opening already. He says because the house has 8" thick walls with twin rows of rebar reinforcement, there is no need for more support. In brick or other materials, I know this would be wrong but I dont know the score in this type of construction. I'm attaching a photo of the doorway. Can anyone help me with this? Thanks
That's a toughee, the logical thing to do from a safety point of view would be fitting a lintel, after all its not that much extra work to do.
I would get this checked out with the freeholder of the apartment to make sure they have the relevant permission. Don't know much about the building regs. in China, but from what I have gathered they are not very good.
Its true, in China the buildings are awful. In Hong Kong its not the same although the local contracting standards leave a lot to be desired. I'm just worried about the likelihood of deflection in this situation. The owner downstairs has said he'll put in the lintel if a structural engineer agrees its necessary, but right now everyone's on holiday (except the contractor) so I'm trying to get ahead of the curve before the trail goes cold.
Having a lintel is the better option for you. Hope you have started work as the holidays are already over.
We've talked to a structural engineer who has predictably said that a lintel is needed. I'm now about to convey the happy news to my neighbour.
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