Bi-fold doors installed, discovered afterwards no lintel support

Poirot1943

Hello, had bi-fold doors installed by a FENSA registered installer yesterday. Last night received an e-mail from them informing us there was no lintel and it would cost £850 to rectify. Thought this would have been picked up at initial survey. Very concerned about structural integrity of our home now. Will doors need to be removed to install a new lintel. Any advice would be much appreciated.

FreeBear

Should have been picked up during the survey. Even if it wasn't, it would have been obvious during the installation. Fortunately, it should be possible to retrofit a lintel to the outer leaf without needing to remove the door.

Assuming it is just the outer leaf of brickwork that needs to lintel, you shouldn't worry about your house collapsing around your ears. If a lintel is not fitted, the brickwork above the door will start to sag causing cracks to appear above the opening and the door will become increasingly difficult to open & close.

I'd recommend going back to the installer, point out the fitting of the lintel should have discovered during the initial survey or certainly during installation. Use that to negotiate the price down.

Poirot1943

Thank you so much for your help. Have arranged for a builder to come in two weeks to retrofit an outside lintel. Hopefully might get some sleep tonight. Thanks

Swasterix

Poirot1943 said:

Thank you so much for your help. Have arranged for a builder to come in two weeks to retrofit an outside lintel. Hopefully might get some sleep tonight. Thanks

Just in an effort to allay your fears a little more…

We had a similar issue with the windows in the back of our house a couple of years ago. During a particularly nasty storm, we had a waterfall of water over one of our UPVC window frames. On inspection, it turned out that we had no lintels above any of our rear windows on the outer course of bricks. The house was built in 1962 and apparently the original timber window frames were load bearing… they were replaced with UPVC in the early 90s and over the next 20-30 years the brickwork above had started to sag, the mortar cracked which led to the water being able to penetrate the wall easily. 

We ended up getting lintels and new windows fitted, no issues since. So- if the back of our house managed to last ~30 years without any support above the window openings, I’m sure yours will be fine for another few weeks :-) it does need addressing though! 

Poirot1943

Thank you ever so much for sharing your experience. We live in a semi, built in 1968, so sounds very similar. We are just checking everyday to make sure it doesn’t get any worse. Many thanks

Swasterix

Poirot1943 said:

Thank you ever so much for sharing your experience. We live in a semi, built in 1968, so sounds very similar. We are just checking everyday to make sure it doesn’t get any worse. Many thanks

You’re welcome. 

Honestly, I’m sure you’ll be fine. If it wasn’t for the water ingress, I’d probably still be none the wiser! It’ll get sorted :-)

Nearlyold

Just to add - best to keep the new doors shut until a Lintel is fitted.