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.
Newman Building Solutions were contacted by a private home owner in South East London who had noticed that there was substantial cracking to the bay window of this late victorian property.
We carried out an extensive survey of the bay window and the front elevation and it was apparent that there had been brick arch lintel failure and out ward movement requiring lateral restraint.
With the introduction of the Twistfix heliforce system we were able to restore the structural integrity of the masonry. Twin 6mm helical rods were inserted into the bed joint crating masonry beams tying the bay window back to the main structure and distributing structural loads. Twistfix pinning ties were inserted vertically through the lintel tying them to the masonry above. We used 8mm lateral restraint ties installed through the external masonry tying into the floor joists.
Cracking to bay windows is a common defect to period properties that should not be ignored. Traditional costly, disruptive and time consuming methods should be avoided when you can utilise modern methods of masonry repair.
