Lintel replacement London,
and support nobody checked.
A cracked lintel, a sagging opening or a survey that could not confirm the support above a knocked through wall all lead to the same question: what is actually holding the brickwork up?
Find out what is there,
then support it properly.
Surveyors cannot see above a plastered opening, so reports often say support could not be verified. That is a limit of the inspection rather than a defect, but it will be raised again by the next buyer, and occasionally it is a real problem.
It comes up for knocked through walls, widened doorways, removed chimney breasts, new windows and openings formed for extensions. Most were done properly. Some were not, and the only way to know which you have is to look. Where support is absent or undersized, the load is being carried by masonry that was never designed for it, and that does not improve with time.
The same applies to an original lintel that has simply reached the end of its life. Replacing it like for like is routine work, provided the brickwork above is supported while the old one comes out.
Signs of a failing lintel
Stepped or diagonal cracks running up from the corners of a window or door, a dropped arch, bowed brick above an opening, windows and doors that stick, and rust staining or spalling where a steel lintel meets the brick. Old timber lintels rot from the ends where they sit in the wall, and early concrete lintels crack as their reinforcement corrodes.
Removed chimney breasts
The most serious version is a breast taken out at ground or first floor with the stack left above. The masonry has to be carried by a steel beam or by gallows brackets designed for the real load. Surveyors often find no visible support at all, and the new owner inherits the work.
How it is put right
First a small area is opened up to see what is there, which turns an unknown into a known. If support is missing or inadequate, a structural engineer calculates what is needed for the span and the load. Then the wall is needled and propped, the new lintel or beam goes in on proper padstones, and the brickwork and plaster are made good. The calculations and building control sign off are what you hand to a future buyer.
Get a written
price.
Monday to Saturday 9am to 8pm, Sunday 9am to 3pm. All London boroughs.
Message us on WhatsAppSend the paragraph from your report and a photo of the opening and we will tell you what it will take.
Often needed
alongside this.
Areas we cover.
We take lintel and steel beam work across all 32 London boroughs. Most of our work is in west London, in Shepherd's Bush, Hammersmith, Fulham, Kensington, Chiswick and White City, and in south west London, in Putney, Wandsworth and Wimbledon. We also work in south east London, in Greenwich, Blackheath and Lewisham.
If your property is outside these areas, call us anyway. We travel across London and will tell you honestly if a job is too far to price properly.