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Roger Mills Roger Mills is offline
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Default How to set a steel lintel over a door frame

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
jim wrote:

Detached garage: I'm replacing the timber frame (925mm wide overall)
for the side entry door. The wall is single brick with buttresses.
The brick (soldier) course over the frame lacks a lintel, so wish to
add a steel L section.

Can someone kindly help me step by step with how to set the lintel and
where to put mortar.

First, how should the ends of the lintel be placed on the supporting
bricks? On a thin bed of mortar? - if so how thick?

Next SFAIUI a PVC dpc should be placed on the lintel. Is this laid on
the steel lintel directly without a mortar bed? And does it go up and
over the rear upright of the L?

Next the layer of mortar for the new soldier course: - is this
continued up the rear L upright?

The lintel I purchased has a lip at the top of the rear upright which
sticks out 15mm at 45deg. What is this for and how is it left when
finished?

How should the dpc be left so that it looks trim? Should any of it be
visible?

Nothing else I need to watch out for?

TIA for all help.


Are you sure you *need* a lintel? What's above it, in terms of brick courses
etc.? Does that part of the wall support the roof? If there's not much to
hold up, a row of soldiers may well be more than sufficient.

Assuming you *do* need a lintel, I would simply use a piece of 6mm thick
100mm angle, about 250mm longer than the doorway width. It sounds as if the
lintel you have was intended for a cavity wall, and includes a cavity tray -
which you neither need nor want. I've never heard of putting a DPC between a
lintel and the wall above - what's it supposed to *do*?

I don't know whether this is the official method, but this is what I would
do if fitting a lintel in your circumstances:
* Rake out the mortar either side of the door, from the course level with
the top of the doorway, sufficient to be able to slide the lintel in from
inside the garage, with a few mm of clearance between the lintel and the
soldiers
* Apply a thin layer of mortar to the upper horizontal surface of the
lintel, and slide it in
* Use Acrows to jack it up so that it 'beds' under the soldiers, and any
surplus mortar squeezes out
* Use thin slate (not mortar) to pack between the underside of the ends of
the lintel and the supporting brickwork
* Re-point the mortar joints which you have disturbed

--
Cheers,
Roger
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