Single skin Brick shed: Advice to replace wooden door and window with lintel in 2 pieces

[psherbet]

Hi all,

I have a single skin brick shed at the bottom of the garden that I want to renovate and convert to a office, I want to replace the existing wooden door and windows (if you can call them that) but I'm not sure how to go about it, the lintel is in two pieces and I'm not sure if it will hold.

Obviously a lot of other work required including insulation, levelling, etc.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[JohnD]

the lintel is in two pieces

you will need to remove it, and probably add a new steel, and rebuild the brickwork. Cheaper, you could use a deep wooden joist and remove the brickwork above.

You'll need to add insulation, such as battening out the inside by 100mm so you can fix wallboards with insulation in the void. The roof will also need insulation. how much headroom do you have?

You'll probably need a new floor, with dpm and insulation. While excavating you'll see what foundation, if any, the walls have. You'll need to protect against damp and add gutters and rainwater drains.

It will be a bit more work than knocking it down and building a new one.

 

[psherbet]

Plenty of headroom, the floor is lower than the grass on the outside and battening is the plan for the inside.

It already has a concrete floor so I was planning on laying dpm and then self leveling screed on top.

It has guttering already at the back as well and has power.

I'd prefer to renovate rather then rebuild.

 

[psherbet]

you will need to remove it, and probably add a new steel, and rebuild the brickwork. Cheaper, you could use a deep wooden joist and remove the brickwork above.

Can you get a steel lintel or deep joist for single brick, I though those were just for normal double or cavity walls.

Any reason not to replace like for like with a concrete lintel? Can I remove and replace the upper three courses of brick to the roof with no issues? Lastly I assume I should remove the courses first before the lintel, replace the lintel and rebuild the courses then take out the wooden door and window?

 

[JohnD]

I was thinking steel would be easier to handle than concrete due to weight. You'll need to take out and rebuild the rocky brickwork at the sloping end where it has been bodged and use new padstones, you could cast them yourself in place. As there is not much but the roof above you could use a wooden joist instead and omit the brickwork on top. The rest of the brickwork looks good but both the lintels are poor, the sloping end is very bad

here's an example of a 2400mm steel lintel, I don't know how wide yours is.
and an 1800mm concrete

you don't have enough depth of brickwork on top to add rigidity at the sloping end

here's a lintel selector which may help. It directs us to an angled steel lintel.

yours is very much like a brick garage with a wide opening at one end. Some of the other guys will have done lots of these and will know the answer in a trice.

 

[Mr Chibs]

What about two 65mm concrete lintels stacked on top of each other and mortared together, a lot easier easier to manage than a double Concrete lintel.

The bearing only needs to be 200mm each side on the front, and 150mm on the side door.

 

[psherbet]

Thanks.

I think I'll probably go with steel lintels. The next thing I need to work out is how many acrow props I'll need and how many courses to remove, could I remove two or should I just use props for the roof joists and remove them all above the lintel?

 

[Mr Chibs]

What is the roof made from?

What are the joist like, size/condition etc.

I don’t think you’ll be able to take two courses out and keep all the brickwork together, as there isn’t enough brickwork above the lintel to stop it cracking.

What length is the Front lintel?

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Catnic offer a 102mm steel lintel for single leaf walls, that would be my choice.

 

[psherbet]

Roof is polycarbonate sheets so pretty light and joists look good, it's fairly new from what I can tell.

Front lintel is 3500mm. I'm debating whether to reduce that gap or not though.

So current plan is props for the roof joists and remove all 4 courses then concrete lintel, add new steel lintel and maybe padstones (are they needed?). Rebuild the courses, then I can decide what door and windows to get.

 

[Mr Chibs]

Due to the roof type being very light, a long scaffolding board under the joists and 2 or 3 props should suffice. The woodwork will be heavier than the roof.

It would be a lot easier to remove the roof and start afresh with lintel(s) and brickwork.

As mentioned box lintel probably the way to go.