On 1 May 2007 05:39:23 -0700, Daniel Fenner
wrote:

I've been in a home for one year now, that was built 8 years ago. The
garage has a brick gable, with a window in the middle, above it. It
appear that the lentil that the building company put in is not strong
enough to support all of that weight and is starting to sag in the
middle which has caused the brick above it to start separating (one
large verticle crack from the window and growing larger as it moves
down to the lentil. My QUESTION is, what is the best and cheapest
repair for this. I've had a range of recommended fixes from taking
all of the bricks out and replacing the lentil, to putting in
lagger(?) bolts and tuck points(?). Is the latter option just a short
term fix? Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks, Daniel

Onions are not a good choice for structural materials.
Is the structure double-wythe brick, or a brick facade
over a wood frame? Are you sure the crack is because
the lintel isn't adequate, and not because the whole
foundation is moving, or because the roof
is spreading the tops of the bearing walls?
The fact that the crack started at the window makes me
a little suspicious. If it was sagging, I'd expect the
crack to start at the top of the door and work it's
way up. Does a straightedgee show sagging?

How much headroom do you have
in the doorway? Is the room above the garage finished space,
or can you get at the structure from the inside?
How much ugly are you willing to put up with?

If you can spare the headroom, the SIMPLEST fix
would be to jack the middle of the door back into
place, and weld a big chunk of angle iron to the
underside of the existing lintel to
reinforce it. I'd seriously consider
running cable and a turnbuckle under the window
across the whole width of the garage, while you're
at it.