Steel lintels in Manchester, NH: new and replacement lintels over doors, windows and other wall openings, set on site. New opening or rusted-out lintel, the job starts from the engineer's size, so the steel fits the wall it carries. Call (603) 660-2011 about the opening, or send us a picture of the wall around it.
A steel lintel is a steel angle or beam set over an opening in a wall. It carries the brick or block above the opening, so the weight passes to the wall on either side. Over an ordinary door or window it's often a single angle.
Cut a new window or door into a brick or block wall, and the masonry above loses its support. A steel lintel gives it something solid to sit on again, across the full width of the new opening.
The lintel bears on the wall at each end. How far it bears is part of the design, not a guess, because that's where the whole load goes.
Commercial or residential, same rule. Most of our work is commercial, with some residential, and lintels are one place where both show up.
On a renovation, a lintel is often one line in a bigger scope. It belongs with the rest of the steel work around openings we do in standing buildings.
Old lintels rust.
Rust takes up more room than the steel it came from. So a rusting lintel pushes on the brick around it. You see it as a crack running up from a window corner.
Sometimes the brick over the opening starts to bulge. Left alone, it gets worse with every wet winter, because water keeps feeding the rust.
Replacing one follows a plain order, because the wall can't hang in the air. First the wall above is supported and the old steel is cut out. Then the new lintel goes in with full bearing at both ends. Laying the brick back is mason's work.
Cutting out the old steel is a trade of its own, covered on the Steel Cutting and Removal page.
Outside, in a wet wall that sees road salt, a hot-dip galvanized lintel holds off rust longer. A primed and painted one does fine inside, where the wall stays dry.
It matters most where a lintel is hard to reach. Once the brick is back, getting to a lintel again means opening the wall. So paying for galvanizing up front can cost less than doing the job twice.
Often the drawings name the finish. If they don't, settle it before the steel arrives, because once the lintel is bricked in, the choice is made.
The engineer does. The size follows from the width of the opening and the weight of the wall above. So a floor or roof bearing on that wall changes the answer.
Two things matter as much as the size, though. The lintel needs enough bearing at each end. It also can't bend too far, since a lintel that sags under the wall can crack the masonry it carries. For the detail, the Brick Industry Association publishes a technical note on structural steel lintels.
A lintel may look like a plain piece of angle, but the wall above decides what it has to be. So we set the lintel the drawings call for, sized beforehand by the person who signs for it.
The opening sets most of it: how wide it is, and how much wall sits on top.
A wider opening means a heavier lintel, sized by the engineer. Replacing a rusted lintel adds cutting out the old steel, and often repairing the brick it cracked.
The finish comes last. Galvanized steel lasts longer in an outside wall, and painted steel costs less.
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There's no single number, because it depends on the angle size, the wall above and any load on that wall. A single loose angle suits an ordinary door or window. A wide storefront or garage opening may need a beam, or a lintel hung from the structure. The engineer decides which.
Header is the general word for whatever spans an opening, in wood or in steel. A loose lintel is a steel angle that simply rests on the masonry at each end. A relieving angle, also called a shelf angle, is bolted to the building's structure instead. So it holds the brick above it at that floor, rather than resting on the wall below.
Neither wins everywhere. Steel is shallow, so it fits the brick coursing, but it can rust if water gets to it. Precast concrete doesn't rust, but it's deeper and heavier, which can change how the wall looks. The wall, the opening and the exposure decide which one lasts longer.
Call (603) 660-2011, or send a photo of the opening and the cracks around it. A picture tells most of the story.
Tell us the wall type, roughly how wide the opening is and where the building is. Add the drawings or the engineer's letter if there is one, so we start from the right size. You won't pay for the estimate: written up for a bigger job, given by phone for a small one.
