Lintel construction has varied through the decades from very elaborate brick arch lintels to less elaborate concrete lintels.
Edwardian & Victorian built properties often feature very elaborate brick arch lintels and having with stood over 200 years of change many of them are showing signs of failure. One of the most common causes of brick arch lintel failure is the change of a load bearing timber window to an uPVC non load bearing window causing the common stepped cracking that apparent on many buildings.
Lintel Repair
Lintel construction has changed with various methods and materials now in use such as flat soldier course lintels, pre stressed concrete lintels and catnic lintels. They can all fail for various reasons such as changes in structural loads, ground movement, and thermal expansion, and in concrete lintels fail due to oxidisation of the reinforcing bar.
Victorian Built Lintels
In the majority of cases, lintel failure can be repaired using the Twistfix heliforce system, incorporating bed joint reinforcement with pinning ties and resin injection forming masonry beams within the structure alleviating the need for costly disruptive remove and rebuild of the lintel which is the traditional approach.
Lintel Repair Using Twistfix Helical Beams
Newman’s are experts in lintel repair and have installed lintel repair schemes across London and the South East.
Retaining walls are a vital structure within the infrastructure of London. They are everywhere and a large number of them are well over 100 years old. Victorian built retaining walls are usually constructed using 13 inch solid brick work construction with a soft lime mortar and usually they haven’t been inspected for signs of failure or disrepair until they are at a critical stage of failure.
At Newman Building Solutions we are regularly required to design a suitable structural stabilisation programme that will restrain further outward movement or collapse as well as retain the original charm of the structure.
Newman Building Solutions specialise in retaining wall restraint and use various modern methods of structural repair such as the Twistfix helical system creating masonry beams and crack stitches tying the masonry together. In some instances ground anchors are required to restrain the outward movement. Twistfix helical systems can be guaranteed for up to 25 years and ground anchor solutions can be guaranteed for up to 99 years.
We like to restore these engineering marvels and relish the opportunity to conserve the original structure. Visit our case study here to view the Twistfix system in use to restore and restrain a Victorian built retaining wall.
Lintel Failure is a common defect to period properties and cracking and sagging of the masonry is a serious structural defect that should not be ignored.
To restore the structural integrity of the masonry Newman Building Solutions designed a specification that would allow the installation to be carried out in a day but also restore the integrity.
Deep masonry beams were installed above the lintel distributing structural loads and the brick lintel was propped back into position and resin injected creating a load bearing high strength lintel whilst restoring the original aesthetics of the building.
As well as lintel failure a 3mm crack was stitched using 1.2m single crack stitching rods where cracking had occurred caused by a change in loadings where lintel failure had occurred.
