Thread: brick lintel

Hello everyone , Inspected a 4yo home yesterday and found the brick lintel
has a splice about 6 foot away from righ side. ( brick) Appears the angle iron had been welded together and ground down smooth. weld has cracked.

called local building inspection division and they tell me there is no code on
brick lintels.
any help please

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There may not be any applicable "codes" in your jurisdiction Mark. Where do you live? Are you an HI or a home builder trolling for information. Either is fine.

You dont have to have a code for everything. Somethings just arent right. If a weld is cracked, it isnt right. Someone went to the trouble to weld it, at least it should be a good weld. If not, why bother even trying to weld it.

John I am a home inspector in Ky. It just seems so stupid for something like this not to be in code book. I looked at the 2002 code book and could not find anything. Thanks for your reply.

First,

Is it a "lintel" of a "shelf angle"? Makes a big difference.

Mark - Welcome to the board!
Please fill in your profile so your location shows up when you post. Sometimes it really makes a difference.

Jerry I was raised up in the residential building buisness and my Dad always called it a lintel. ( that is a piece of angle iron that supports brick or stone over windows, or doors 0

I always see lintels as flat pieces of steel that span the openings on brick buildings.

Lintels can be solid stone or steel. What Jerry is refering to is the steel sold in the big box stores as lintel. Take a look at it sometime when you are in there. It is deformed, I guess to give a better purchase to the mortar.

Originally Posted by Brian Thomas

I always see lintels as flat pieces of steel that span the openings on brick buildings.

Yah, you see them as "flat" but they are angle iron, otherwise wouldn't be stiff enough. Lintels sit on the brick on either side. Shelf angles are bolted to the framing.

ah ok john, yeah i suppose the lintel would be much stronger if it were angle iron.

we see the flat part but there is the other part of the angle is behind the brick that we cant see.

Originally Posted by Vern Heiler

Lintels can be solid stone or steel. What Jerry is refering to is the steel sold in the big box stores as lintel.

No, what Jerry is referring to is: Is it a "lintel" or a "shelf angle".

"Lintel" - That which spans the opening, each end bearing on the sides of the opening.

"Shelf angle" - That which is attached to the structural wall above the opening, it may, or may not, span beyond the opening as it does not require "end bearing support" as it gets its support from the structural wall itself.

Either can be used to support brick veneer over an opening in the brick veneer, however, they are treated differently in their design and support.

You could have a "shelf angle" spliced, even butted, as long as they were kept in alignment by the supporting wall behind, there is no real problem with it.

I reviewing the IRC I notice that it states: (underlining is mine)
R703.7.3 Lintels.Masonry veneer shall not support any vertical load other than the dead load of the veneer above. Veneer above openings shall be supported on lintels of noncombustible materials and the allowable span shall not exceed the value set forth in Table R703.7.3. The lintels shall have a length of bearing not less than 4 inches (102 mm).

Thus, "shelf angles" are not allowed (unless engineered to be as such - and how would we know that?). In fact, reading Table R703.7.3 inasmuch so states that. "Allowable Spans For Lintels Supporting Masonry Veneer a, b, c ... and where note c states "c. Steel members indicated are adequate typical examples; other steel members meeting structural design requirements may be used."

Getting back to "lintels", then ... I would take that table (Table R703.7.3 to mean 'single span' which would include 'single continuous metal' for the 'single span', otherwise, you effectively have 'less than a single span' - right?