Replacement windows can lead to failings in the wall above (see photo), if they are not properly specified. But let’s not rush to judge poor double glazing installers too quickly. In this case, a wooden casement window was replaced by a PVCu double glazed window. Read on .....
Replacement windows can lead to failings in the wall above (see photo), if they are not properly specified. But let’s not rush to judge poor double glazing installers too quickly. In this case, a wooden casement window was replaced by a PVCu double glazed window. But Oxford based Chartered Surveyor Daniel Stephens MRICS has diagnosed the cause to be movement in the lintel (the beam that spans above the window so that the load of the wall is held above the window opening).
The structural survey in Harrow was of a 1970’s built block of flats. Common to that era of construction was the use of “Boot Lintels”. A lintel that bears on the internal (load bearing) wall (see diagram).
Shallow bricks (slips) are then used on the face of the external wall to give a clean, uniform look to the overall structure.
Occasionally, the Boot Lintel can rotate on its bearing on the internal, structural wall, the visual sign of which is the cracking to the bricks above the window.
Structural Surveys are all about considering all options, not jumping to the most common. If you need a Home buyer or structural survey in Oxford, High Wycombe, Chesham, Rickmansworth, Northwood, Pinner Harrow or London, Woodward Chartered Surveyors can help.
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