ᐅ Installing a door lintel – Do you have any tips?

Hello,

I have a problem installing a door lintel. I have to say that I am a complete novice when it comes to masonry.

We bought a farmstead where we also keep some horses. Now we have acquired more and need to provide additional shelter. We found some old buildings that I believe were once garages.

They had very large double doors, which we have now removed. Instead of the double doors, we want to install a wall made of 2df bricks with a standard door. The wall is mostly built and looks fine. Now I am wondering how to install the lintel. It is made of concrete and is not as tall as the 2df bricks.

How should I do this? Add enough mortar on top of the lintel so that when I place the 2df bricks on it, they line up flush with the rest? That would be more than 10cm (4 inches) of mortar. I assume I don’t have to notch it, right? Because I only have a masonry hammer and no brick saw.

Maybe someone has found a good guide online.

Thanks for the tips

Walter

Wow... you’re really taking on quite a challenge there. Let’s hope everything holds up.

Perhaps when you bought the 2DF bricks, they should have also sold you some in the NF format... then it would fit properly again.

Well, I would say it's a matter of learning by doing. If it collapses, it collapses, and you just do it again, but I don’t think that will happen. However, it’s annoying that the lintels weren’t delivered directly in the 2D format. Why are they smaller anyway? Does that have any purpose?

Well... maybe they just wanted to tease you a bit..

No, definitely not.. the precast lintels primarily adapt to their own structural requirements... so usually, there are no significant adjustments. There isn’t much load transferred onto door lintels. And if there is, it would have already been accounted for differently in the structural design. Of course, you don’t have one of those. This is just to explain why...

The block dimensions are based on the DIN standard format... so they always fit together in the end, whether in height, wall thickness, or length.

So don’t overthink it.. just buy a few standard blocks and lay them on the lintel with an adjusted mortar joint.. then everything else will work out fine.

Thanks for the tips.

I’m now finished, and I think it turned out quite well.

But I’ve been wondering the whole time whether having too much cement in the mix would be a problem. Isn’t it actually better because it makes the material harder and stronger? ^^

Well... too much cement would certainly not be appropriate for a residential house... but for your garage and new horse stable, it definitely won’t be a problem. So you shouldn’t have any concerns about that.