Hi spotted this at my mums today patio door the first row of brick appear to have dropped. What is missing or never been fitted?
There should be a Catnic lintol like this. If it has recently had the window fitted perhaps the fitters were a bit heavy handed when removing the old window and created the crack.
That row of bricks on top of the patio door frame should be resting on a catnic lintel if its in the next row up where the cracking appears looks like a misfit patio door assembly, btw i am not a builder but that row bricks look like they have been disturbed wider mortar joint ?
Even with a Catnic lintel fitted on occasions I have seen concrete lintels fitted on the inside also, particularly if it has any load above the window.
Was the existing window a metal casement ?, I would say concrete pour lintel on the inside and no external lintel , if the company that fitted it were Fensa/Certass registered then they should have spotted it upon survey and priced accordingly for a lintel to be fitted. Your mom should have received a insurance backed guarantee and a certificate of fitting soon after competition, first call to the company that fitted the doors to give them chance to rectify, if you have no joy with them then contact the above mentioned insurance company. If there is a lintel in there then at a guess they have fixed up through the lintel and pushed up the bricks but this is unlikely, the trim above the window looks to tight on the brickwork for a lintel to be fitted also.
Looks like French doors and side lights or 3/4 panel sliding patois to me, the side lights will offer some support to the brickwork but above the doors no support will be offered to the brickwork, allowing it to move down a little.
Need a picture of the whole aperture, and maybe further back from the house. It is possible to have a crack in the mortar even with a lintel.
They’ll be no lintel on the external brickwork as originally they would of had timber windows which are structurally supporting to a limit. You’ll need one of these with 150mm bearing each end. Sadly as a lot of companies just throw the windows and doors in they don’t want to get involved with the structual side but it’s a hours work at most when the old frame has been removed https://www.bricklayersmate.com/cat...IlPOvt_eK6AIVC0HTCh2QVQVOEAQYASABEgLCVPD_BwE#
Not necessarily.....there could be any make of steel lintol; or concrete lintol and steel angle; and there aren't any weephole perpends in the brickwork. All common in that era. Quite normal for that period of house (the bricks are LBC Tudors).....but I doubt the original frame was metal (like Crittall ones) and the timber ones for that period would be most like Boulton and Paul, so not much strength in them. If there are no cracks internally then the concrete lintol would seem to be sound so the only load above that window opening should be the brick outer skin shaped at 45 degrees.....the first floor and roof load is on the inner skin. You might be able to see cracks above the corners of the opening reflecting a 45 degree shape. My guess is that either the brickwork was loosened when the old window was removed (whether a lintol is there or not) or there has been some other movement......I can see some low down in the damp course by the cill. I can't tell if the doors are sliders or casement.....casement doors being slammed can cause the same issue, particularly if there aren't any lateral restraint straps in the construction.....which there probably wouldn't be in that era. My advice is get a screwdriver and rake a bit of the joint out (say 4") to see if there is anything in the way of a lintol in there.....if a metal toe to a lintol is there it should be about 1" back from the face. Depending on what is found, either re-point short lengths at a time and take a chance; or do a proper repair.
With those bricks, it is unlikely there is a catnic lintol in there, particularly as andy says there is a concrete lintol in there...not enough room and wrong era.
If that is the case, guess what would have happened when the old frame was removed? It isn't a curved brick arch where they all act together.....it is straightforward header course, loosened by frame removal, so I am pretty sure that some would have dropped out, if not all. The usual thing in the 60s and early 70s was the concrete lintol plus a steel angle (or a 3" wide steel flat). Because there are no weep holes holes and that means no cavity tray, there is a good chance the steel has rusted.
there is no steel in there at all just the inside concrete lintel. original when the house was built circa 1964 there was a window and a door separate in the aperture. around 1977 they had an aluminium sliding patio door fitted which was fine no crack in the 40 plus years... around 3 years ago they had a plastic frame with glass either side of a central door fitted... you see the crack!
