State of my Lintels. Help!

[Ddter]

Hi,

Please cam anyone offer some help on the following...


I'm in the process of buying a house and the survey came back with photos of some cracks in the plaster board (very dated decor) and a comment that the lintels could need replacing... Its a 1950 construction with concrete lintels.

From the outside the lintels look ok.

Any thoughts on how to inspect the lintels without taking the plaster board off or anyone had a similar comment in a survey?

 

[Notch7]

Usually lintel problems show up as cracks near the top corners of windows and doors.

there may not even be any lintels

is it brickwork outside - can you see any dropped brickwork above windows

 

[Ddter]

Would that be cracks on the inside near the edges of the windows I should look for?

From the outside I can clearly see the concrete lintel above the windows.

I'll take a closer look at the surrounding brick work but looked OK.

More of a generic wall construction question, is there likely to be an internal lintel as well as an external lintel?

Thanks for your message!

 

[tell80]

Why not post interior & exterior pics of the lintels in question?
Are bays involved?
Have you put a level to the undersides of the lintels?

 

[^woody^]

You're likely to have a crap surveyor than cracked lintels

 

[Ddter]

Hi, thanks for the tip on the level. All looks level on the outside.

It's not bay window in this instance.

I've put a pic of the outside ground floor front window. I haven't got any of the inside yet.

 

[tell80]

Buy the house.
Cavity walls have internal & external lintelling.
There are cracks in the conc lintel but no signs of sagging or associated cracks in the surrounding brickwork.
FWIW: Why not post the survey pics of the interior "plasterboard cracks"?

These issues are very common and no big deal - if necessary, in your own good time, you could have the lintels of concern replaced. A simple remedial job.

 

[Ddter]

Thanks.

Here are pics of the cracks in the plaster:

 

[tell80]

Thanks for the pics but where are these cracks in relation to the earlier photos?
What/where is the papered wall - is it above any of the lintels?

 

[Ddter]

The cracks are from the room above the lintel pictured earlier. The papered wall runs perpendicular to the window.

Hope that helps, I don't have loads of photos to hand and they're not great quality.

 

[^woody^]

The ceiling cracks are not anything to do with the walls

 

[Notch7]

The points from your survey about lintels may need replacing and cracks on ceiling plasterboard are not connected - as Woody states.

I would be guessing it’s a semi detached property that originally had Crittall windows.

The wire cut bricks were common to that period

even if lintels do need replacing, it’s not a deal breaker - sure it’ll cost a bit, but it’s not a can of worms

 

[Nige F]

LBC rustic fletton bricks crittall windows - ex council house c.1950s ?

 

[Ddter]

Hi all, thank you very much for the input.

I do have another picture below from the report, with a crack on the wall but I would need to check where in the house it is.

If I was to get someone to look at the property would they be able to tell me much more than the survey without having to remove plasterboard etc?

I see concrete lintels are relatively cheap so I assume the work is the main component of the costs, do you have any ball park figures of how much it would cost to replace the lintels?

 

[^woody^]

If I was to get someone to look at the property would they be able to tell me much more than the survey

Much more than a person who inspects houses for a living and writes survey reports you mean?