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Posted by MarkL on May 1, 2007, 9:15 am
It's lintel, not lentil. I worked for a general contractor way back
when, we did a few jobs where we changed the overhead door on
commercial buildings and had to take the brickwork out to modify the
opening (generally to make it taller). Assuming this is brick veneer
and not structural brick, I would remove the brick back far enough to
put in a new lintel, then replace the brick. Make sure you save as
much of the brick as possible so it will match when you put it back
up. You probably want to get a civil engineer or architect to do the
calculation for a replacement, especially if you're in a hurricane or
earthquake area. There can be considerations other than the weight it
supports, so don't let another contractor make a poor choice. You can
probably tear everything out yourself and set the lintel if you're
ambitious, but laying brick takes a fair bit of skill, probably not a
DIY project. You should probably also think about shoring up the
middle of the existing lintel until you can get this repaired. It
could cause quite a bit more damage (and maybe injury) if it fails
before you get it fixed. You could buy a basement support column and
put it in the middle of the span, that should stabilize it for awhile
and still allow you to use the garage.
> I've been in a home for one year now, that was built 8 years ago. The
> garage has a brick gable, with a window in the middle, above it. It
> appear that the lentil that the building company put in is not strong
> enough to support all of that weight and is starting to sag in the
> middle which has caused the brick above it to start separating (one
> large verticle crack from the window and growing larger as it moves
> down to the lentil. My QUESTION is, what is the best and cheapest
> repair for this. I've had a range of recommended fixes from taking
> all of the bricks out and replacing the lentil, to putting in
> lagger(?) bolts and tuck points(?). Is the latter option just a short
> term fix? Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks, Daniel
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