How to Tell if House Has Window Lintels

giggsuk

Hi,
We are in the process of buying a 1930s semi and had a full building survey completed. The surveyor reported that he was unable to ascertain that lintels were in place, but visually could see no problems. He advised that if we saw building control or FENSA certification for the windows then this would have been considered and would not be an issue.
Coincidentally we had previously asked questions about two 10 year glazing guarantees we had been provided with, one was out of date and one still valid so wanted to know which specific windows were still covered. We got this information but the vendor also disclosed that windows installed in 2016 had no FENSA or building control docs. No mention of the 2016 windows had been made previously (we are 3 months on from agreeing the sale).
The vendor is now saying the installer was FENSA registered but currently has provided no proof of this, and our surveyor is saying to apply for regularisation or if time is more limited (it is - we need to complete before the end of March) then to have someone complete opening up work to check. 

The vendor has offered indemnity insurance but my understanding is this does not cover any arising structural issues if it turns out there are no lintels.
How can we quickly find out and who would do this?? If lintels needed putting in how much does this cost??

Any advice appreciated!

Doozergirl

Fensa doesn't account for lintels.   It is all
about the glazing.  The older I get, the more worried I get about what surveyors know.

You can't see clear evidence of lintels over many/most houses.   The questions is whether there is any sign of movement.  If there's none in older windows then 2016 is unlikely to be an issue either. 

Anyone with the correct knowledge can tell if your glass meets regs as it's printed on the glass. That's all a building inspector looks for.  

In an old house, you want toughened glass in windows/doors that start at low level and are a risk for falling through. 

giggsuk

Thanks Doozergirl. However my understanding is that one of the assurances of FENSA compliance is structure and also remedial work by the installer where this hasn’t been conformed to: https://www.houseofwindows.co.uk/downloads/fensa-guide.pdf

An indemnity insurance from my vendor would not cover this and essentially offers no real assurance. We offered over asking price so do not want to be stung with expensive remedial work.

Doozergirl

My bad.  I was under the impression that it didn't because so many contractors don't bother.   I wouldn't trust the average Fensa installer to check correctly.   

Regardless, if there is no evidence of movement, then there is no real evidence either way of the presence of a lintel.  It's normal not to see the evidence in many houses because they are deliberately covered, our own self built house included.   It isn't a problem.  

If you want peace of mind then you'll want a structural engineer's advice.  They can do a visual check and give you a verbal report, but you'd need invasive investigation to be sure, which seems a bit extreme given that without any evidence of movement you have an apparently normal house.  

All I gather from what you've said is that the surveyor is covering their backside, not stating at all that there is a problem.   

There's sometimes an obsession with paperwork.  The house didn't have a building control certificate when it was built and there's barely an element that would meet modern regulations, but that isn't considered an issue.  

stuart45

You can often see when steel lintels have been put in. In the 30's it was common to build the soldier courses with wall ties sticking out of some of the joints. The inner lintel was concrete built  insitu and this tied the brickwork to the concrete and formed one lintel.

Alter_ego

If there's a steel lintel a magnet may detect it.

weeg

If the windows were insufficiently supported you'd be able to see movement cracks at this stage (ie 4 years after the windows were replaced), so basically I'd take the indemnity of the basis that it isn't broke so you don't need to fix it.