We have put a pair of padstones I, though one has come loose, I think because we haven't waited 24 hours to hack out the bricks. What I need to know is - a pair of 6ft steels are going in, do we need to mortar between the steels & padstones ? There is 2 floors above, plus loft living space + roof. The house is 100urs plus old.
Just sit the steel lintel on the padstone, you never bed them. And don't skimp on the size of the padstone, I always had it drummed in to me, it's length should twice the width of the lintel minimum.
Unless you have got very lucky and both pad stones are dead level you will need to bed the lintel, if the bed is more than 10mm you should put slate in between the pad and lintel.
Aye we got loads of half, quarts & bits of slate ready. Kiab, the padstones have had to be skimmed an inch & half, coz they would interfere with the pic rail on other side. But, I get what u mean about its length. Its 2 x I-beam steels going in. Not lintels. We Ws told to get them bolted, then told to leave em loose... Any advice there plz ?
It shouldn't be that difficult to get two pads dead level. I've never bedded a steel lintel (RSJ) in 30 years, only catnic & concrete lintels. Also it's better using steel plate 4mm / 5mm or what ever thickness depending on the gap you need to pack,as shims with a RSJ than slate.
No, if the pads are level and the steels sit still, (not wobbling) no mortar needed, but if they are not, putting a bed of mortar in place is perfectly ok.
Should the two steels be bolted together, folks? As for whether to bed them - I've no idea, but my tuppence' worth is to say 'yes' because unless these two padstones are perfectly level and perfectly flat and the steels are perfectly straight, then at least one of the steels will be creating a pressure point on that padstone where the whole weight above will be focused. Ok, that's only a penny's worth...
Quite common to bolt two rsj's together, some building inspectors were a pain in the rearend wanting certian type of spacers between the rsj's, but it's the building regs. So, I would cut spacers to required length from a scaffold tube with a grinder & then slide spacers through the bolts, basically it's to stop the rsj's twisting or canting out.
I always tried & leave them in for a few days,gives the mortar time to harden, even after 24 hours it's still soft enough to disloge a padstone.
My boss's fone went off, when he Ws in front of me, it sounded like a acro twisting or bending... I didn't wait to see if it was or not, I just sprang out of the way ! Would have made a frog proud !!