LINTEL FAILURE SURVEYS
Prevent hidden, potentially dangerous and costly structural issues from getting out of hand – check your building’s structure with AMS SURVEYS. We’ll help identify and address issues before they become more serious problems, with structural surveys, inspections, engineer's reports, structural calculations suitable for Building Regulations, and structural investigations. Serving Cheshire, Lancashire, Liverpool, Manchester, and across the North.
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WHY DO LINTELS FAIL?
Even though lintels are made of strong and durable materials, most of them will eventually require maintenance and repair. There are a few different reasons that can cause your lintels to crack and lose their structural integrity:
Natural deterioration
Adverse weather conditions and damp are continuously affect the fabric of your property. As decades pass, materials used for lintels can start to corrode, expand, and rot, which naturally causes cracks and can reduce the strength of the lintel.
Foundation and wall
Shifting ground levels or changing the water table can impact the building's foundation causing subsidence. If for some reason the building foundation is altered, the wall above can lose its structural integrity causing movement in walls and at the lintels locations.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF LINTEL REPAIRS
BRICK LINTEL REPAIR
Traditional brick lintels and brick arch lintels are typically repaired using a remedial steel bar system. The structure of these lintels is repaired by removing strategically selected segments of the pointing and inserting remedial treatment bars across the length of the lintel. The brick arch lintel may also require to be pinned in position. These segments are then repointed making the whole repair practically invisible.
METAL LINTEL REPAIR
As in the previous case, damp affected metal elements eventually start to corrode. As corrosion appears the lintel expands, causing the surrounding masonry to crack. Cases like this can be repaired either by supplementing the existing lintel or replacing the existing lintel. The brickwork above the lintel may require stabilisation as noted above.
CONCRETE LINTEL REPAIR
Concrete lintels are typically reinforced with steel rods. While these rods increase strength of the lintel, in some cases it can also contribute to its failure. As concrete is penetrated by rainwater, steel rods can start to corrode and expand, causing the lintel to crack as a result.
Cases such as this are typically repaired using our concrete lintel repair system. This system involves removing the cracked section of the lintel, brushing, and grinding the rust from the steel rods and reshaping the lintel using a fast-curing concrete solution.
TIMBER LINTEL REPAIR
Most older properties can still contain lintels made of timber. If preserved properly, timber lintels can serve just as long as steel or concrete alternatives. Unfortunately, if affected by damp, timber lintels may be affected by a wood destroying fungal attack or even attract wood-boring insects, both negatively affecting the strength of the lintel.
If your timber lintels have failed, this does not mean that you require to completely replace them with steel or concrete alternatives. Here at Richardson & Starling, we offer structural repair solutions that repair such lintels using our resin and steel rod repair system should this is the best and most cost-effective solution to deal with the lintel problem.
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