Windows replaced with no lintels

MikeJXE

Skintsaver said:

One fitter even told me that they could see a lintel! God knows how( I didn't use them as I thought he Was dodgy)
It's FENSA Registered and I paid by credit card. 

I could see there could be issues prior especially as my neighbours is stepping cracks too. Which I pointed out and was assured a lintel wasn't nesserary! Due to the soldier joints and wall ties! 

Below is from jut before the replacements

They look like wood windows to me, much stronger and central supports 

I note there is no sag it the top window therefore I'm guessing the sag occurred whilst fitting the plastic ones 

Like I said the bottom soldier course is stronger that the top due to weight distribution above it 

grumbler

MikeJXE said:

The top window has the weight distributed every 600mm along it 

Why 600? Bricks are about 65mm. Joists and rafters rest on the inner skin. Those soldier bricks are purely decorative (and make the cavity).

MikeJXE

Above the solders on the top window is the roof and the roof supports are 600mm apart sitting on a wall plate that could be 100mm x 50mm, there are probably soldiers tied to the outside wall with the inside brickwork as there are no lintels

Thats why i have been asking how old is the property 

Skintsaver

MikeJXE said:

Above the solders on the top window is the roof and the roof supports are 600mm apart sitting on a wall plate that could be 100mm x 50mm, there are probably soldiers tied to the outside wall with the inside brickwork as there are no lintels

Thats why i have been asking how old is the property 

It's around 1930s. The old windows were also pvc

MikeJXE

Did the old window have steel jacks inside the plastic ? 

grumbler

Even old properties with a solid wall have a massive timber lintel on the inner side of the wall holding joist and rafters. Outer soldier bricks rest on the window frame, are purely decorative and don't hold anything. They just fill the gaps between protruding rafters.

Skintsaver

grumbler said:

Even old properties with a solid wall have a massive timber lintel on the inner side of the wall holding joist and rafters. Outer soldier bricks rest on the window frame, are purely decorative and don't hold anything. They just fill the gaps between the rafters.

What you've said is what a builder said to me today that the internal wall would Likley have a internal wood support. 

stuart45

The original windows would probably have been timber. Lintels back then we're often cast in situ concrete, and the soldier course would often have wall ties going into the lintel. This is why the company might have thought that the brickwork was secure.

Section62

MikeJXE said:

Above the solders on the top window is the roof and the roof supports are 600mm apart sitting on a wall plate that could be 100mm x 50mm, there are probably soldiers tied to the outside wall with the inside brickwork as there are no lintels

Thats why i have been asking how old is the property 

The idea of the wall plate (if one exists) is to help distribute the point loads from the roof trusses/rafters so the load from the roof is closer to being a UDL rather than point loads on individual bricks/blocks.

In principle the wall plate could potentially act as a beam spanning the window opening with no supporting lintel required, and many properties have been constructed that way.

With old-style wooden window frames it was also quite common for the outer leaf bricks above the top floor windows to be laid directly on top of the frame, with no lintel.  So if this property did have wooden windows and was constructed prior to about 1980 then it may be a classic 'no lintel/weak plastic frame' failure case.

At a guess I'd put the age of the property around the late 1930's into the 40's.  Although it could be a more recent property with older styling.

FreeBear

Section62 said: At a guess I'd put the age of the property around the late 1930's into the 40's.  Although it could be a more recent property with older styling.

The corbelled course of bricks along with the row of pin tiles just below the render suggests 1930s build to me. I would suggest that the upper half of the property is of solid wall construction. 9" thick with 6" wide window boards internally. That little detail is very similar to what I have on my (late) 1920s home.

Certainly, on the ground floor (cavity construction on the lower half), steels were required over each window & door that I've had replaced recently. The inner leaf being supported just as stuart45 describes, but without the wall ties to secure the outer leaf.