Drilling above interior doorway?

[jomaruko]

Hi everyone!

I've been putting up floating shelves for book display on both sides of our fireplace. My plan is to put one more long shelf all the way across the doorway (see blue line in first photo). I think it'll look nice filled with books and will balance out the other side, where I've already put a shelf at that height.

Suddenly realised that maybe it's not the best idea to drill above a door frame? I wouldn't want to do anything to impact the structural integrity ot the lintel... To hang the shelf I'd need to make three 10mm holes - one in the middle and two towards the edges.

I also don't know what type of lintel it is, or how to find out - we're new home owners and it's a 1950s bungalow. My next step was going to be to go buy a stud finder and try to figure out what material the lintel is and how far upwards it extends, but thought I'd check on here before I do that. From reading other posts my understanding is that it would be ok to drill into a timber lintel but not concrete or steel?

Any help or advice on how to proceed would be hugely appreciated. Complete dyi newbie here and trying my very best!

Cheers,

Jo

 

[thomp1983]

I wouldn't bet on there being a lintel and it not just being block work especially if there isn't anything sitting on it upstairs, they'd just use the door casing to hold the small amount of weight.

Just use a standard masonry bit and drill into it with hammer switched off and you should be able to get a feel of what's there if anything.

 

[jomaruko]

I wouldn't bet on there being a lintel and it not just being block work especially if there isn't anything sitting on it upstairs, they'd just use the door casing to hold the small amount of weight.

Just use a standard masonry bit and drill into it with hammer switched off and you should be able to get a feel of what's there if anything.

Thank you so much (also for the quick response), that's very reassuring!

 

[Notch7]

1950s build -Its probably a 65mm x 100mm concrete lintel

3 small holes wont cause any issues, bear in mind that there may be holes around the ends of the lintels also you might struggle to drill into a lintel, it usually need an SDS drill