Garage Lintel Replacement
A garage lintel replacement may be required to prevent further damage to the masonry on your home or building.
Garage lintel replacement may be necessary when the lintel damage is the result of corrosion. This occurs when water enters through the masonry walls above the garage lintel and comes to rest on a steel lintel above the garage door opening.
Most people think of masonry as being waterproof but moisture entry is a very natural cycle for any type of masonry wall. However, the water that enters into a masonry system must exit properly or the results will lead to damage which eventually will require a steel lintel replacement.
To get a better idea of why a steel lintel repair may be needed for your property let’s talk a little about what a steel lintel is.
The steel lintel is a piece of angle iron steel used to support masonry walls above garage door openings during construction. Garage door lintels provide support for the masonry walls above the door and they do can and do deteriorate. When this occurs a garage lintel replacement is needed.
You can see the rust damage on this garage lintel. It caused cracks and failure over this opening and needed to be replaced. Notice that the masonry above the opening needs to be supported by shoring jacks to prevent collapse.
Here are 7 reasons your garage door lintel may need to be replaced.
- 1. Corrosion – Brick and stone are naturally absorbent materials. Water enters the masonry above the garage doors and settles onto the steel lintel above the opening. The water lays on the steel and over time will corrode the steel if there are no weep holes to wick the moisture to the exterior of the wall system.
- 2. Structural Support – As the steel lintel corrodes it loses strength. The strength of the steel is what holds up the masonry above the door opening whether it is only a few feet or several stories high. So as you can imagine the structural integrity of the steel is very important.
- 3. Excessive Stress – As corrosion continues the lintel steel expand from oxidation. This is turn causes a lifting, sagging or twisting motion or all of these can occur simultaneously. This can apply excessive stress to the surrounding masonry units and the wall system.
- 4. Water Infiltration – The stress from the expanding steel causes cracks in the masonry which allows an even greater amount of water into the wall system. This additional water increases the deterioration process and expands its presence in the wall system.
- 5. Binding of Doors – This is a sign that something is not right with a door lintel. Doors will bind from the downward pressure of the masonry above the opening because the lintel is beginning to sag and fail.
- 6. Unsightly Cracks and Bulges – Progressive lintel deterioration will cause the masonry above the opening to ‘bulge out’ creating cracks in the wall system where they should not be. Cracks let additional water in and the deterioration continues at a faster pace.
- 7. Catastrophic Failure – After years of water infiltration, cracking and corroding, catastrophic failure can occur. This doesn’t happen frequently but when it does it is sudden, damaging and can be life threatening to any person in close proximity to the failed lintel. This is why we recommend steel lintel repair or replacement to assure structural integrity.
Garage door lintel replacement can be quite involved depending of the severity of the damage, the type of building structure above the lintel and the back-up (material behind the bricks) materials.
If you are planning on purchasing a used home it would be a great idea to have the lintels on your prospective property looked at before you make the purchase. Lintel replacement can become quite costly especially with older solid masonry buildings that require substantial shoring to hold up the structure during lintel replacement.
If you have a damaged steel lintel do not expect it to get better. The pressure on the steel from the load above it will continued to press downward causing more and more damage.
This is the finished garage lintel replacement. Notice that all the cracks have been repaired and there is a new piece of steel above this garage door opening. This repair will provide the owner with years of trouble free service.
