Lintel or RSJ?

SameOldRoundabout

The back door is currently an old single door, with a window a few hundred mm away each side, lintels over each. Ideally next year I’d like to replace this set up with just one large sliding door. Somewhere between 2-2.5m wide, the back of the house is 3.4m wide. Do doors of this size need lintels or proper beams? The kitchen is so dark and dreary I want as much light as possible! 

FreeBear

A photo would help, but I'm guessing you have a window<->brick pier<->door<->brick pier<->window ... In which case, I would suspect separate lintels over each opening. If that is the case, then you would need a suitably sized lintel to suit the proposed span. One for a structural engineer - And you will (probably) need his calculations for building control approval.

grumbler

SameOldRoundabout said:

Do doors of this size need lintels or proper beams?

Certainly there are lintels even for much bigger spans, e.g. https://iglintels.com/lintels/standard-lintels/100mm-inner-leaf-100mm-outer-leaf-lintels/extra-heavy-duty-load/

DOH_a

Something to bear in mind is to cover all basis and opt for a lintel or steel beam with bottom plates, which will give you the option of having French doors, sliding or bi-fold’s. This would also allow for any head fixings for those doors that may be top supported.

Le_Kirk

DOH.a said:

Something to bear in mind is to cover all basis and opt for a lintel or steel beam with bottom plates, which will give you the option of having French doors, sliding or bi-fold’s. This would also allow for any head fixings for those doors that may be top supported.

I would cover all bases if I were you!  Naughty spell checker to blame I expect.

SameOldRoundabout

Thanks for the replies. I guess I’ll have to get the structural engineer round before we find out if we’re talking lintel prices or full RSJ prices!