Fixing a rotten lintel and supporting a leaning wall.

[AnotherBrick]

Looking for a bit of help /advice please!

I need to make good and safe the brickwork above the entrance to a woodshed at my mum's house. The wooden lintel has rotted away and the mortar between the bricks above has cracked. It's not supporting anything.

I know I need to remove the top two/three layers of bricks, and replace the rotting wooden lintel. So far so easy.
Then I should be okay laying bricks (hopefully be able to get mortar off and reuse these ones) to the top - I've not done bricklaying before, but I've got someone on hand to advise as we go.

My main question is - that wall to the left of the door in the pic below looks like it's leaning to me - maybe being pushed out by the brickwork on the top collapsing onto the lintel and twisting? If it is, then would replacing the lintel and top layers bricks sort the issue, and if not, what could I do?

The idea is to make the entrance *safe* rather than aesthetically perfect; taking the entire wall down is beyond what she wants done, and to do that and rebuild it is probably beyond my capacity tbh. She has trust issues with strangers, so no chance of getting any contractors in - all down to us.

The wall sections on both sides are stable, it's only the top that's wobbling. The wooden fence is not ours so has to stay as is.

This is the shed from the inside; the roof sits on a timber frame, not on the wall brickwork itself.
I'll probably extend the guttering through the wall when I take the top bricks off.

 

[Mr Chibs]

If you only intend replacing the bricks above the door, then remove these and bin the rotting wood, you can install a concrete lintel, then replace the brickwork on top of this (if the wall is 9" thick (brick longest length) then you will need two 'single concrete lintels' side by side.
Only needs to overlap the brickwork (bearing) by 100/150mm each side.

If the LHS wall is not wobbly, you are good to go.

Good luck.

 

[cdbe]

Left hand brickwork pillar is dangerous and needs making safe/demolishing immediately. This is the sort of thing that kills children.

 

[catlad]

I think the water but is holding the wall up!

 

[AnotherBrick]

First thing I'll be doing is draining the waterbutt and moving it, either to prop that wall up - if it proves to need it - or to get ladders in and take the lintel out. We'll see what happens when I move the butt.

I may need to rebuild the entire wall. Eek, more than I can cope with!

 

[mrrusty]

Eek, more than I can cope with!

It's really not. You may be super-slow and the results might not be as clean when compared to a real brickie, but just about anyone, with care, can lay a few bricks in a small wall like that. This is a DIY forum - go for it!

 

[AnotherBrick]

It's really not. You may be super-slow and the results might not be as clean when compared to a real brickie, but just about anyone, with care, can lay a few bricks in a small wall like that. This is a DIY forum - go for it!

Thanks for that!
I'm time-pressured to do whatever I can in a single day, so may just make the top section safe for now by removing the lintel. That's an easy one-day thing.

I can revisit in the spring and attempt a wall build if need be.

 

[cdbe]

Looking at the image of the inside it looks like a previous "side" wall (which would have restrained the leaning brickwork) has been previously removed and sorted of replaced by a fence. This would make any similar replacement potentially as unstable as the failed one.

If you do determine that the wall should go, you could probably replace it with two concrete (or even timber) fence posts and some timber cladding. It looks like the roof is supported off a timber post rather than the wall, which makes the job easier.

 

[jj4091]

Just as an aside it appears your switch is not compliant either so get that sorted properly when you demolish everything.

 

[AnotherBrick]

Just as an aside it appears your switch is not compliant either so get that sorted properly when you demolish everything.

My dad did all the electrics, about 25 years ago, so would have been compliant with whatever was necessary at that point in time. I'm not going to touch the electrics tbh, unless its a super-simple thing like changing the switch to an outdoor one.