Dave P wrote:
"Old Bill" wrote in message
...

Dave P wrote:


Problem is that I've discovered that although there are (concrete)
lintels fitted over the inner leaf of the cavity wall, there ain't
nothing over the outer leaf. Now, I have absolutely no doubt that if I
go to a FENSA-registered WRC plc, they will happily bung in new uPVC ones
without adding lintels, and until the frames start sagging in the middle,
nobody will be any the wiser. But if I diy, then I have to go through
Building Control don't I; and you can bet your life they will insist on
lintels being put in.


You can easily get upvc windows, like mine, which are fully steel
re-inforced.


Now that's really interesting: news to me. Presumably these are
building-regs compliant? Who sells them?


But are you sure there that your lintels aren't in fact "boot-lintels"
where its not obvious on the outside that there is a lintel on the outer
leaf?


Well... I have looked into this, and a structural engineer friend told me he
was sure there weren't any. Definitely there's nothing visible on the
outside: you can see the bottom face of all the bricks on the outer leaf
(well, the 50% which is visible in front of the top of the window frame,
anyway). There's also a diagonal crack therough the brick joints heading up
for about 6 courses, at 45 deg, from the corner of one wiondow. Is it
*possible* there's some form of lintel in there? Would save me a lot of
grief!! How can I tell for sure without without taking a window out?

Cheers
Dave



The steel reinforced upvc windows are often specced for bay windows in
older houses where the orig bay frame is supporting the stuff above.
The Kommerling ones fitted for me by
http://www.allstylewindows.co.uk/prodwindows.html have it as standard.

Cowboy upvc outfits, e.g. Anglian, won't bother.
Anyway, it could be your walls don't have a lintels and maybe should
have them fitted to avoid collapse.