Survey shows missing window lintels?!

[Beach1983]

As above - why would there be no lintels?

30’s house, double glazing was installed in 2005. I’m confused as to why there are no lintels in some of the windows (not all of them apparently). Were houses of this age not built with lintels or has someone removed them when is talking double glazing? So confused!

Has anyone encountered this - it sounds like an expensive issue to rectify!

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5816836/buying-house-with-no-lintels this should answer your questions. Obviously prices will vary

@Carrieonmywaywardsun Thankyou! That makes sense and is very helpful!

We have a 70's extension with no lintels had to have them put in for new double glazing last year!

We were told the support came from the steel inside the (replacement) window frames themselves.

We had to have them put in too. 1950's house, previous owners had put double glazing in but no lintels. It caused the windows to distort. Originally the wooden windows would have provided support.

@Koalaslippers do they double glazing windows not support in the same way a wooden window would? I’ve read this somewhere else but don’t get it!

was it expensive to have the lintels put back in?

Does the report say it's the brickwork outer leaf only? If so that is common. The original timber window frame would have sat in line with the outer brickwork leaf and supported it. Upvc sits further back and does not have the same structural strength.

I've remediated plenty of these using Helifix masonry reinforcement. Takes a couple of days and is all done from the outside so minimal disruption.

Should also add it's probably cheaper to put a single leaf lintel in if you are removing the windows anyway, but if you aren't replacing the windows, and want less disruption, the masonry reinforcement is quicker and less messy.

@NothingIsWrong it doesn’t say!

This is what it says “It is apparent there are no lintels over some window and door openings with deflection noted in the line of the brickwork. This is particularly evident over the living room window, front door and over the ground floor shower room window. As and when windows and doors are replaced in the future there will be a need to provide or upgrade lintels”

I think I will get our friend who is a builder to have a look when we move in!

I do want to replace the windows but not sure when we will be able to afford it as other things need doing that are more important.

I would say that's just the outer brickwork then, if there was a lintel missing from the inner leaf as well, you'd be in a whole lot more trouble and it would be an urgent repair.

It's a relatively common fault with older properties that had either timber frame or crittal windows originally that have been replaced with upvc. While it can wait a bit, I wouldn't recommend you put it at the bottom of your priority list.

You can ask for a reduction in price. I would be concerend about the 'deflection noted in the line of the brickwork'. Did your surveyor indicate a price for correction? You could get a surveyor out to look only at that aspect and do a more thorough report - that is what I would do.

No the uPVC don't support as well as wooden ones. We had it done when we had our windows replaced and cost us 1k last year.

We had this and got some money knocked off for it. Then had a builder put some in. It’s not uncommon, as pp have said, it’s when wooden frames are switched to PVC, which don’t support in the same way.

@carefullycourageous there were a few other issues and property was downvalued so we got a significant amount of money off the price 👍🏻