If you remove the brickwork above a window on an older property, there’s often no telling what you’ll find until the area is opened up. Some houses have concrete lintels, others have steel supports and occasionally you come across older methods that are rarely used today.
We’ve seen properties where the original lintel was still doing its job after many decades and others where signs of movement had started appearing in the brickwork around the opening. In many cases, homeowners aren’t even aware a lintel exists until a crack appears or building work is being planned.
The support above a window isn’t something most people ever see, but it plays an important role in carrying the weight of the wall above. Without it, the brickwork around the opening wouldn’t remain stable for very long.
When repairs or alterations are being considered, one of the first things to establish is what type of support is already there and what condition it is in. That usually provides a much clearer picture of what, if anything, needs to happen next.
