Choosing And Placing A Lintel

By Author: Chris Vaiz
Total Articles: 42
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Earlier or later, to every single one of you there must have been a case when you should have either used or seen a lintel support. A lintel, as you might guess by that, is a very important component of every building, because as a structural horizontal block that spans the space between two vertical supports, it has a load-bearing purpose. It could be used as a mere decorative architecture element as well and most likely as a combined item. You could find a lintel at different portals, doors or even windows.

Different uses
No matter what the place is, no matter even of the era or culture, the lintel has always been an inseparable part of the human’s architecture. As any other part that has such importance of our lives, lintel support, as it was already said, could have two different parts of purposes, one of which is for plain structural use, and the other – for more decorative, ornamental one. The materials and the method it was constructed mainly depended on the era it was used. For example, in western classical architecture the also called architrave, was rested on stone pillars. Only much later was the ...
... decorative use of the lintel introduced. It had no structural function, just a fancy element over doors, for example.

How to select a lintel
When choosing a lintel, you have to consider a few things. For example, what type is your wall construction and how wide is the structural opening? You should as well ask yourself what load will be supported by the lintel and what type of lintel you want to use. If you have no idea what these stuff are, make sure you read some more materials.

How to install a lintel using a Strongboy
Installing a lintel is not the easiest job ever but if you could follow a couple of steps and find yourself good and high-quality equipment, such as a Strongboy it might actually be done without anyone else’s help. The first step you have to make is actually to really find the right equipment. Except a Strongboy you should also hire or purchase an Acrow Prop, safety goggles, and gloves and last but not least – steel-toe capped boots. Don’t forget, your safety is at the first place.

After you made sure you got your hands on all of this stuff, you could actually proceed to the real work or in other words – to install the lintel that would be able to hold the weight of the wall. The floor is the other thing that should be strong enough because it has to withstand the weight of the props. Next, use a drill to make some holes in the wall for the Strongboys but keep in mind that they should NOT be more than three feet apart. After you install them tighten the screw but keep in mind that you should not over tighten them. Only after these precautions you could move along and start removing bricks to make way for your new lintel and proceed with the installment itself.

If you have any doubts about the process or after that or even you are not confident enough, make sure you contact a structural surveyor.

For more information on Strongboy and lintel support please visit http://www.scp-props.co.uk/.