Another hectic site visit today as I met with Warwick District Council, Bershe Rolt (lintel specialists), Bowater and Kinetics in order to discuss and evaluate the lintel problem. Bowater were also there to complete their measuring up for the windows and doors.
It is unlikely that these houses were built with lintels as they weren’t really needed for windows with wooden frames which were able to take some of the load. But when it comes to retrofitting new PVC-U windows, some extra reinforcement is required because there won’t be enough strength in the new frame.
The general consensus from today’s site visit was that some lintel reinforcement might be required for the ground floor windows where some work has already been done in the past to reinforce the structure. The the first floor window openings are in a worse condition and for these it is likely that we will need to cut back the brick corbelling and instate new concrete lintels.
