packing out lintel in chimney breast

[norahclare]

I (or rather my boyfriend has) knocked through a whole in the chimney breast and put in a lintel. We plan to board it out and plaster to create a decorative opening.

We have a gap between the lintel and the brick in the chimney. We were told by someone we should fill the gap with slate. I'm wondering if there is an alternative material we can use?

 

[noseall]

how big is the gap?

 

[gasmick2]

what he should have done was to put a bed of cement on the top of the lintol before it went in and it could have been jacked up to the bricks and pointed then there would not have been a gap if the brickwork is sound and not falling why cant you chop out at the top of the lintol at the ends and try to lift the lintol tight to the brickwork then tight brick it up
underneath that should then be ok i would go for the bed of cement though as it will seal the joints

 

[norahclare]

The lintel has only been slotted in not fixed in yet. Where it rests on the bricks its quite snug and could easily be pointed. Over the opening, some bricks have fallen out (or been knocked out by the boyf) so the gap goes from about 3cm to about 8cm.

Any ideas?

 

[noseall]

30mm gap, fill with mortar.

80mm gap, fill with bricks and mortar

 

[norahclare]

Thanks for the advice.
Would that be easy to do? The boyf will say he'll have a go but I'm pretty sure he's never mixed mortar and his attempts at stuff arn't always that successful.
Also, we only need a little bit really (don't sand, concrete etc come in rather large bags?)

For those reasons I'm starting to think it might be easier to pack it with slate?
Is it a particular type of slate that we would need? and where might we buy it?

 

[r896neo]

hey i honestly dont want to sound condescending, especially becasue i probably spelt it wrong but if he has never mixed mortar why is he doing what technically is stuctural work? Why is there such a big gap? did you have to rebuild part of the front of it? Believe it or not i have seen a bit of 1x2" wedged in propping up the front of a chimney breast instead of a lintel. If your plastering over it fill it with cut bricks and mortar cause you wont see it anyway but do fill all the gaps.

Sand and cement are in biggish bags but theyre dead cheap i.e. both for under £4 even in B&Q!

There is a good article here about mortar- http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/BRICKWORKMORTAR_MIXES.htm

 

[norahclare]

Thanks for the article.

Why is there such a big gap? did you have to rebuild part of the front of it? Believe it or not i have seen a bit of 1x2" wedged in propping up the front of a chimney breast instead of a lintel.

The work was done under the supervision of our builder but he's gone off to do another job and his advice was to use slate to fill in the gap (which he was going to give us). No worries- we have a proper concrete lintel in there- and to be honest, we didn't think it was a particularly difficult job to do; I'm just on here to make sure we do it right.

if he has never mixed mortar why is he doing what technically is stuctural work?

I'm afraid that finances dictate that to get the house finished, we have to learn new skills and attempt stuff ourselves.

 

[saxondale]

isnt the idea the lintel actually supports the wall above not just sit there looking good, re - cut it so its right

 

[r896neo]

yea as mentioned the lintel should be taking the weight of the front of the chimney breast so there should not be a gap any larger than a thick mortar bed, i.e. 30mm. Packing with slate is normally done to allow pointing and the mortar to go off not to actually fill a gap.

If you havent done it already raise the lintel to make the bed underneath thicker and fill that with mortar too, slightly reducing the gap on top. The bricks have fallen out beacuse you havent supported the weight of them whilst lintel is not in place. due to the pattern of brick courses there is a triangle of load on the row of bricks above the lintel going to a point 3 feet up or so in the centre front of the chimney breast. Just rebuild it with bricks and mortar but if your not doing it for a while take the weight of the bricks with steel rods and/ or timber through the mortar joints or more of this 'triangle' will continue to fall out.

 

[norahclare]

Point taken-will be filling in with bricks and mortar this week. Thanks everyone for your advice.