View Single Post
  #5   Report Post  
Posted to uk.d-i-y
Andrew Andrew is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 81
Default Is angle iron adequate for lintel?

On 12 Feb, 13:29, Tim S wrote:
I doubt 3.5" angle iron (but what thickness???) is going to snap, *but* 12
foot is a long span and 12x8 foot of brickwork is very heavy. Instinctively
it doesn't feel right by a large margin (I've seen it done when the iron
was in the form of an arch, but not straight). The fact you are seeing a
bow in it confirms it's not good IMO.


Sorry, can't comment on the angle iron but it is supporting quite a
lot less than you think. 12'x8' of brickwork is (by my calculations)
512 bricks. Remember that this 'lintel' is only supporting a triangle
above it. You could remove it and everything except that triangle
would remain happily in place.

A 12' span is 16 bricks. So assuming stretcher bond the total weight
is 16 bricks above the lintel plus 15 bricks on the row above plus 14
on the row above that etc. In total 16+15+14+...+2+1 if you get my
drift. I make that 136 bricks in total. Anything more than 4' above
the lintel is not supported by it. Still quite a weight but nowhere
near the 512 you were talking about.

HTH etc.

Andrew