# Need advice on gap between lintel and stone



## Robpo (Mar 30, 2014)

caulk with weep holes


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## stuart45 (Jun 20, 2009)

Are the walls solid stone, or is it a stone veneer with a timber inner wall?


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## Rav (Dec 7, 2011)

stuart45 said:


> Are the walls solid stone, or is it a stone veneer with a timber inner wall?


Solid stone as far as I can tell (like 3-4 inches thick, see attached pic). There's not a timber inner wall but some sort of a clay block inner wall (a little like the attached drawing), with lathe and plaster after that.


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## stadry (Jun 20, 2009)

i wouldn't use caulk OR mortar,,, better materials are avail today - use closed-cell backer rod & polyurethane sealant,,, IF they had it in the old days, they wouldda used it too 

irc


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## stuart45 (Jun 20, 2009)

Have timber windows been replaced with UPVc ones? A common problem here is when this is done the masonry drops because the timber frames were stronger.
Stonework tends to put more weight on a lintel than brickwork because the bonding is different. Would agree Robpo about some weepholes.


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## Rav (Dec 7, 2011)

stuart45 said:


> Have timber windows been replaced with UPVc ones? A common problem here is when this is done the masonry drops because the timber frames were stronger.
> Stonework tends to put more weight on a lintel than brickwork because the bonding is different. Would agree Robpo about some weepholes.


I don't know what might have been in the house originally, but when my wife bought the house in '92 there were old, warped, single-pane, metal casement windows. She had them replaced in 2000 with vinyl clad wood exterior casement windows, wood interior. I don't know what sort of framing changes might have been made.


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## stuart45 (Jun 20, 2009)

Any cracking on the inside terracotta block wall?


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## Rav (Dec 7, 2011)

stuart45 said:


> Any cracking on the inside terracotta block wall?


Don't know. I saw it when the roof sheathing was removed for a re-roof, but it's not visible now from the window where the lintel is. I've attached a picture showing the exterior stone and the interior block wall (during the re-roof).


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## stuart45 (Jun 20, 2009)

Unusual for the lintel to bend down and the stonework to stay up. Normally the masonry pushes the lintel down. Could be the inner wall is pushing it down, as usually the inner wall takes the weight of the roof.


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## tony.g (Apr 15, 2012)

If there was no dpc incorporated over the steel angle (probably not if 1930s), then the angle will rust. The rust expands because the oxide takes up more volume than the parent metal. This expansion can force the lip of the lintel down against the weight of the masonry above, so that the lintel lip bends downwards.

These pics show an (unprotected) steel lintel installed 40 years ago. The gap is about 1/2"


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