Thanks for the feedback guys. I think I'll ring the BCO tomorrow to sound him
out before I see the engineer. The ceilings are pretty high, so there are
probably 6-8 courses of brick above the top of any possible lintels and any
floor joists, and no beams or RSJs above any of the proposed sites either so
hopefully we won't have any problems.

Peter

"Hugo Nebula" wrote in message
...
If you've got one of the BCOs I deal with, he'll want all the
calculations
in triplicate even for a 27" doorway.

No BCO I know would worry about a simply supported beam for less than
a couple of metres.

If I give you his name and contact telephone number can you explain this to
him. I have had to produce calculations for three doors. One I agree with
because there is a purlin above it but the other two are simple walls, one
with a couple of joist three layers of brick up. Naylors (the lintel
suppliers) couldn't believe it either and did the calculations for me.

None of these were even for new doorways, they were replacing existing doors
where the (slowly trotting) doorframes were used as the lintels.

Anything over that, and it may well depend on the
BCOs experience, etc. as to whether he's prepared to accept your
chosen section without substantiation. It depends more on the
distribution of loads over; for example if you have a beam bearing
onto the wall immediately above where you want to install the lintel,
then calculations will almost certainly be asked for.

Totally agree. No problem with this. Just wanting common sense on more
normal loadings.