ᐅ Lintel broken above door – should the door frame and lintel be replaced, or is it harmless?

Created on: 8 Sep 2017 12:12
S
sauerpeter
The brick cladding around our lintel has cracked and is already partially crumbling. The concrete casting underneath is unaffected. It seems like it was already installed damaged.

Our site supervisor recommends replacing it, while the construction manager says it’s harmless (which I expected) as long as only the bricks on the outside are missing. He also mentioned it shouldn’t bear any load.

Unfortunately, I can’t provide pictures. I can’t compress them below 1MB, and sharing images from the cloud is not allowed. Maybe someone can still help.
A
Alex85
8 Sep 2017 14:07
I believe that the brick being broken is not the main problem. The question is why it broke and whether it will happen again or get worse.
B
baufix42
8 Sep 2017 14:09
These lintels are hollow clay block concrete lintels, with one or two prestressed reinforcing bars in the concrete core, embedded in U-shaped clay blocks. The lintels are not as strong as solid concrete lintels, so they bend when additional masonry is built on top without support. The shown chipping is obviously not very severe.
RobsonMKK8 Sep 2017 14:34
The standard answer is usually: "the plasterer does that."
D
daniels87
8 Sep 2017 16:47
A door lintel is not something that breaks easily, not even intentionally.

Why plasterers? That would just cover the door frame.
K
Knallkörper
8 Sep 2017 17:46
This overall looks like poor workmanship. For example, take a close look at the cross joint in the masonry bonding.
11ant8 Sep 2017 18:40
Knallkörper schrieb:
Note, for example, the cross joint in the brickwork.

Some people are such bad craftsmen, they could easily train others to do poor workmanship.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/