Rusty Lintel?

[Pot Bellied Fool]

Hi All

I've become a little concerned about a rusty piece of metal above one of my windows.

None of the other windows have this in place, there's no damage to brickwork that I'm aware of. The rendering could do with a few cracks filling & a good repaint but as this house has four flats in, it's hard to get the four of us to agree/find the cash. (But that's a seperate issue anyway).

So...

Is this structuraly significant do you think? It seems to form a 'v' shape rather than a straight box/'girder' type shape I'd have expected.

What should be done? Big job? Little job?

(We're hoping to put the place on thbe market in the next 12 months, would this be a problem at survey?)

http://www.sefton-computer-repairs.co.uk/stuff/wel...
http://www.sefton-computer-repairs.co.uk/stuff/wel...
http://www.sefton-computer-repairs.co.uk/stuff/wel...







Any guidance welcome!

[tank slapper]

It depends on how serious the rust is - that might sound a bit obvious, but often rust looks a lot worse than it actually is, as it takes up a lot more space than the metal that was there originally and displaces paint etc. All the surface rust and flaking paint needs stripping off to check. If the corrosion has affected the thickness of the metal compared to its surroundings then it will have created a weak point, however whether that is a problem depends on what load it is bearing and how much the lintel has been weakened by - something that would need checking by an engineer.

It is quite common for lintels to be shapes other than box section, especially if it is a cavity wall.

[dickymint]

Rub it down, fill it, paint it then move on.

[98elise]

If you do need to replace it, you are looking at between £500 and £1000.

[Pot Bellied Fool]

Thanks all, at least the price isn't too OTT. I'll get it stripped down over the coming months but I suspect the left hand side is pretty shot.

How would it be done? Would the window need to be replaced too? (Wooden frame as it's a conservation area).

[Mr GrimNasty]

All they'd do is cut out enough brickwork above to remove the existing lintel and get the new one in - as it's rendered a concrete lintel will do nicely, they're dirt cheap and the render can be patched over to match existing. Shouldn't need to touch the window either. I'd be astonished if it cost as much as £500.

[52classic]

Judging from the obvious signs of previous work on the back of the house I would guess that the previous 'restorer' found a timber lintel that was perished and decided the best option, rather than replacing it, to be a piece of metal box section underneath with an undersize window.

A bodge but an OK one IMHO. As others have said, rub the metal down and if it looks sound just paint it.

[4sure]

White Hammerite paints on these lovely,done mine in the garage above door 8 years ago and still looking good.

[Mr GrimNasty]

The metal will be considerably more corroded inside the cement, you would be stupid to leave it from a point of view of present and future structural integrity (it almost looks like an old iron fence stake has been stuck in there - ughhhhh!), and from the point of view that such a crazy looking bodge will be highlighted by any superficial building survey!

[Grandad Gaz]

Mr GrimNasty said:

.....(it almost looks like an old iron fence stake has been stuck in there - ughhhhh!),

That's what it looks like to me too.

Best to knock off a bit of rendering to find out exactly what sort of lintol you have under there!

[mammamia]

Looks like an old render bead rather than a lintel. Hard to see with the photos. As the reveal side render beads are starting to rust stain through I should think you need to hack off render and remove
and rerender and paint. I should think there would be stone lintels under the render as the stone cills underneath.