Steel Lintel in Brick Wall
Hi, I'm cutting a new doorway in an old brick wall. My plan is to cut out a mortar joint and insert a steel angle lintel before removing the brick below. The mortar joint is about half inch and my steel is 1/4. Should I mix mortar or is there any type of caulk or adhesive I could use to secure the steel and fill the space? Thanks, Jack I have always used mortar to fill any gap around a lintel. Hopefully you have time to install the lintel and give it's mortar a few days to harden before you remove the brick below. The way you worded your post, it sounds to me like you think you can insert a 4 steel angle through a 1/2 wide mortar joint without doing any demo. I assume you know you are going to have to remove bricks in order to get the lintel in... Mortar slops out behind the bricks, so you will have to get in there and chip out some of that mortar if you expect to slip the wall angle up behind the existing brick. At least 2 bricks below each end of the wall angle will need to be removed and relaid in fresh mortar in order to have room to slip the lintel in. But doing it this way probably isn't best. Best way is probably to carefully demo a row or two of bricks above the lintel, chip the old mortar off of them, set the steel angle onto the existing bricks on each end, ensure the lentil is flashed (incorporated into the WRB) and then remortar and replace the bricks above the lintel. The bricks usually rest on top of the steel with no sealant between the two, since water needs to be able to escape. If weep holes or wicks are installed, it could all be caulked with sealant except for the weep holes. Here is a link to a diagram to help you envision it. I would agree with Xsleeper with on exception. After you install the flashing do not add sealant between the brick and the lintel flashing. You should add weeps but don't caulk any of the joint. It simply creates a dam to stop the water that gets into your wall (and it will get into the wall). You also need to make sure the flashing has end dams at each end of the lintel so the water does not simply travel sideways and end up entering your home from there. I would also be curious to know if this is a brick veneer on a wood frame house or a full masonry wall. In a brick veneer wall the brick is not structural. It is no different than vinyl siding, the wood frame is what holds up the house. If it is a full masonry wall then a simple angle lintel may not be enough to pick up the floor and/or roof loads that the masonry is carrying. Xsleeper - thanks for the diagram - I neglected to mention that this is an old storage building and I was planning on putting the lintel in with the angle on the outside. I was simply going to saw out the mortar and slide the angle in with one leg on the outside of the building. Aesthetics is not a concern. My thought was that this was within my capabilities and I wouldn't have to hire a mason...which I can't afford. Am I crazy? (be careful how you answer) A little background on the project... Yes, it's veneer. This is a 60-70 swimming pool building that I'm turning into a big storage building/garage. It was some mason's dream project. From inside to out...sandstone veneer, 4x8x16 block, 8x8x16 block, brick veneer. The building is 35 x 55' with a quarter inch steel pool, a tile surround, and a basement with 6 tiled showers. We're trying to add a 9' garage door in the rear. The pool has been floored over and we're going to put things in the building. The 8 block is doing the work of holding up the flat roof. if you install the vertical leg of the lintel on the outside of the wall you will need to counter-flash over it so the water running down the face of the wall does not get between the vertical leg and the brick veneer. If you have a 1/4 angle to support the brick and the opening is 9'-0 wide it could be undersized depending on how much brick (weight) you have resting on the lintel. The real strength of the lintel is not the steel thickness it is the height of the vertical leg. In general a 4x4 angle or something similar will probably not work long term for a 9'-0 opening. How do you intend to support the concrete block when you install the door? Depending on how the wall was built the 8 block and the 4 block may be bonded together to form a 12 thick bearing wall. Not sure what the details look like but I would not assume that the other masonry in the wall is not part of the load bearing assembly. Is the roof bearing on the wall that the door opening is going into? If the roof load has to be carried by the lintel you will greatly increase the total loading that the lintel in the bearing wall needs to carry. Thanks spiper... Yes, I'm aware of the counter flashing issue. That lintel only carries about 6 courses of brick and is not load bearing so I was told my angle size was adequate. The flat roofed building is about 12 feet tall with the steel roof trusses resting on the 8 block. The 4 block is inside the larger block and tied with the metal wall tie strips - there's perhaps a half inch space between the two. The small block stops at 10 feet, as does the sandstone that is inside that so I have no indication that they are load bearing. There was some type of drop ceiling used at some time down to that 10 foot level. My current working plan is to cut my mortar on the brick and install the steel lintel. Removed both short walls the sandstone and the 4 block on the inside. Remove one course of 8 block 10 ' wide over the 9 ' opening. Install a glu-lam 6x8 header. Remove the blocks and bricks underneath the headers. Have I confused you yet?? Side question - the block wall is very solid and the mortar is in great shape. In your experience, can that row of block be removed and left unsupported while we slide the header in, or do I need to make some provision (jacks or blocking) to support the hole? Jack Depending on the elevation, the one course of 8 block (and and maybe the course above) that you want to remove might be the lintel that spans over the 9' opening. Replacing it with wood is not ever good and would fall flat on its face since wood is not allowed by code to support bearing masonry because of the incompatibility and and the normal code requirements. That course of block is structural. You can probably do as you wish with both the interior and exterior veneers that usually do not carry any load and are there for appearance. Dick I agree with Dick. I would not support the block with wood not just due to code issues but because it is not advisable. A wide flange steel beam would be a better bet. The other thing to consider is that the majority of the load coming down that block is carried by the face shell of the block. In other words if you used a 4 wide beam it would only have the webs of the concrete block resting on it so it could be a problem. That is why a steel plate is often added to the top of the beam to allow for full bearing of the block. The upside is that a simple span could probably be done with a small beam of W8x10 or there abouts and weight wise it would probably be no heavier and maybe even lighter than the gluelam. A 10-0 long W8x10 would only weight 100 pounds. (the second number in 8x10 stands for the pounds per lineal foot so 10lbs x 10 feet). Of course my simple math did not include the steel plate but still 2-3 strong men could manhandle a beam of this type. It is also worth noting that the roof load issue still has to be determined to make sure the beam is properly sized. As for the shoring requirements; this also depends on the roof load issue but I would think that you could slip/wedge some of the removed 4 thick block into the wall as temporary bracing, slide the new beam in from one side halfway thru the opening, remove the 4 thick block and continue to slide the beam into place. Of course this is not guarnteed and I assume ZERO responsibility but I have seen it done many times. Thanks...I'm rethinking the wooden header, although it will be either 6 inches wide or perhaps 7.5. I was told that structurally 4 - 2x8's would do. I hadn't thought of the steel plate but can see the utility of that. I called to see about an 8 inch I beam and was offered an 8 x 28. It was 6.5 in width. It cost $200 and would obviously require more friends or a stronger wife than an 8 x 10. Perhaps I need to shop a bit more. Thanks for the shoring thoughts, also. I had the same thing in mind, just didn't know if that's how it is done. Jack I would use props every 3 ft with needles through the wall as shown here.
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