Lintel above Patio door?

[Oakey]

My mum rents a property, the rear of which has UPVC French doors doors. I was just looking at one of the doors and noticed a large crack in the UPVC at the top. Going outside and looking at the other side of the door, there's also a crack appearing in the same spot. This door also has difficulty in opening and closing, it catches on the frame at the bottom suggesting the frame is sagging.

The outside of the house is rendered but there's a small gap above the doors and the rendering, under which I can see the brickwork. There is no lintel. It's's just brick along the top of the door frame.

Isn't this rather dangerous? The crack in the UPVC frame and dropped door suggests to me it's under some considerable strain.

ETA: They're french doors, not patio doors (which are the sliding variety I assume?)

Edited by Oakey on Saturday 20th August 17:23

[roofer]

There should be a solidier course in the brick externally with a lintel internally tied in. Usual scenario is window firm rip old doors out without any support etc, If it has cracked the UPVC frame i would think the quality of the frame is suspect anyway. Worth getting checked properly methinks.

[Oakey]

It's not the actual frame that's cracked (yet), it's one of the doors that the crack has appeard in, inside and out. This door is the one that sticks. I'll try to get some photos when I'm back there next. It's a little worrying though, as the house is rendered this makes it difficult to see what's going on with the brickwork underneath.

[mgtony]

It could have one of these style of lintel which when looking at the brickwork would give the impression of no lintel. I'd be very surprised if there was no lintel and if it's had a significant effect on the door frame, there would most likey be a visible vertical crack in the render/brickwork.



Is the crack in the door on one of the corner joints? If so, then it may well have been forced open when a bit of movement had caused it to become jammed in the frame at the top or bottom.

[Oakey]

I'll have a closer look next time, it was raining a lot at the time so I didn't hang around outside much.

It could be one of those things, or not. The door was cracked in one of the corners so could be down to what you suggest.

[Qcarchoo]

Some houses built in the '30's to '50's used to have an internal concrete lintel and the outer brickwork was built directly onto the timber window frames.
Ideally, any replacement PVCu windows should either have a strengthened frame or the brickwork should have some additional support.

[Paul Drawmer]

The estate I live in was built in the early 70's. Most of the houses here have had the glazing replaced. The original glazing had hardwood surrounds that were also lintels.

So if you look carefully, most of the properties now have had steel one's inserted and you can see where the brickwork has been replaced around the window heads.


34 by pdrawmer, on Flickr

Maybe a similar problem.

[andy43]

How old's the house? Newer stuff (80's-ish) will have catnics where you sometimes can't see the lintel as above.
If it's older, may well need looking at.

STEP BACK FROM THE WINDOW

[Busa mav]

Qcarchoo said:

Some houses built in the '30's to '50's used to have an internal concrete lintel and the outer brickwork was built directly onto the timber window frames.
Ideally, any replacement PVCu windows should either have a strengthened frame or the brickwork should have some additional support.

Qcarchoo is spot on .

It is quite common to find this , and the window fitter obviously decided to ignore what he saw .

If there was a "modern " lintel there you should still be able to see it .