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Lintel repair & replacement — Chester
Lintel repair and replacement in Chester
Victorian terraces, inter-war semis and post-war estates
A cracked, rusted or missing lintel over a window or door in Chester is repaired by supporting the brickwork above, fitting a new steel or concrete lintel and making the wall good around it. Quirks carries out that work across Chester and Ellesmere Port, with the brickwork, pointing and plastering as part of the job. Chester is a short drive from our base at Ewloe Green. Send us a wide photograph of the wall and a close-up of the cracking, from outside and inside if you can, and we will come back with a written quotation.
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In short: in Chester and Ellesmere Port we prop the brickwork over the opening, repair or replace the lintel and make good the wall and the plaster. Send photographs for a written quotation.
Signs to look for
Signs a lintel may be failing
A lintel is the beam over a window or door that carries the wall above it. When it stops doing that job, the signs usually show in the brickwork first.
Stepped cracks from the corners. Cracks climbing through the mortar joints from the top corners of a window or door.
A dip over the opening. The course of bricks over the frame has dropped in the middle, or bricks set on end have slipped.
A straight crack with rust staining. A horizontal crack along the head of the opening, often with brown staining, where a steel lintel is rusting and swelling.
Cracked or flaking concrete. A concrete lintel cracked across, or pieces coming away with steel showing.
A window or door that sticks. Weight is coming onto the frame, so it binds or will not close as it did.
Cracks in the plaster inside. Running up from the top corners of the same opening.
Wide openings such as patio doors, garage doors and bays often show it first. None of these signs proves the lintel is the cause, so we look at the whole wall before pricing a repair.
Local conditions
Why lintels fail in Chester
Chester’s housing runs from Georgian and Victorian brick in and around the city walls, through the Victorian and Edwardian terraces of Hoole, Boughton and Handbridge, to the twentieth-century semis and estates of Upton, Newton, Blacon and Lache. Each tends to have its own lintel problem.
In the older terraces the opening is often spanned by a brick arch or a course of bricks on end at the front, with a timber lintel behind it carrying the inner part of the wall. Timber that has been damp for years can soften and let the brickwork above settle. Houses of the 1920s to the 1950s were sometimes built with little over the opening beyond the window frame itself. Later houses more often have steel or concrete lintels, where rust or cracked concrete is the usual finding.
Much of Ellesmere Port’s housing dates from the twentieth century, and on rendered and pebble-dashed houses like the one further down this page the first sign is often a crack in the render above a window or a patio door.
Location and age are not a diagnosis. What a particular opening needs is settled when the brickwork is opened up.
Areas covered in and around Chester
- City centre, Hoole and Newton — CH1, CH2
- Upton and Blacon — CH1, CH2
- Boughton, Vicars Cross and Great Boughton — CH3
- Handbridge, Lache and Curzon Park — CH4
- Ellesmere Port, Whitby and Little Sutton — CH65, CH66
- Further into Cheshire: Northwich, Winsford, Tarporley and Knutsford — for larger lintel and structural jobs
CHESTER — DOOR OPENING WITH NO LINTEL
Recent lintel installation project
The brickwork over an external door at a property in Chester had dropped, and the joints above the frame had cracked. A structural engineer identified why: there was no lintel over the opening, and the brickwork was sitting on the door frame. We propped the opening, fitted a new steel lintel, rebuilt the brickwork above it and repointed.
Brickwork resting on a door frame
The first photograph shows the course of bricks set on end directly above the door frame. It has dropped out of line, and the joints around it have opened and cracked.
A door frame is not made to carry masonry. With no lintel over the opening, the weight of the brickwork above had nowhere else to go.
Propped, opened up and a steel lintel fitted
The opening was propped while the work was done. The brickwork above the door was taken down, which is the stage the second photograph shows, with the new steel lintel going in.
A lintel spans the opening and bears on the wall either side, so the load goes into the brickwork and not onto the frame.
Brickwork rebuilt over the new lintel
The brickwork was rebuilt over the lintel and the area repointed. In the finished photographs the edge of the steel can be seen directly above the frame, with the bricks now sitting on it.
The new mortar is fresher in colour than the old pointing around it, so the repair can be picked out for now.
This case study covers the one door opening: the propping, the new steel lintel, the brickwork above it and the repointing around it. The structural engineer identified the missing lintel; the repair was carried out by us.
| Issue | No lintel over an external door opening; brickwork resting on the door frame |
| Identified by | A structural engineer |
| Service | Lintel installation |
| Works | Opening propped; new steel lintel fitted; brickwork above rebuilt; repointed |
| Location | Chester |
Lintel work in Ellesmere Port
At a pebble-dashed house in Ellesmere Port we fitted a new lintel over the patio doors at the back, stitched the cracking in the wall above with stainless steel helical bars and made the pebble-dash good. The three photographs show the wall before, during and after.
How we repair or replace a lintel
The propping, the lintel, the brickwork and the plaster inside are one job, carried out in this order by our own operatives.
Protection and support first
Floors inside are covered, the area is cordoned off, and the brickwork above the opening is held on props and needles before anything is cut out.
The lintel
The old lintel, if there is one, is cut out and a new steel or concrete lintel bedded in, to the manufacturer’s specification or the structural engineer’s.
Cavity tray and weep vents
In a cavity wall a cavity tray goes over the new lintel, with weep vents in the brickwork, so water that gets into the cavity drains out and does not sit on the steel.
Brickwork, pointing and render
Cracked brickwork is stitched with stainless steel helical bars bedded in resin where it needs it, damaged bricks are replaced with the closest match available, and the wall is repointed or the render made good.
Inside, and the waste
Plaster around the opening is made good, and the waste is taken away.
What you get in writing. We set out what we found and what we recommend in a written quotation, and when the work is done you get a record of what was carried out.
Structural engineers and Building Regulations
Whether a lintel repair needs a structural engineer depends on the opening and on the wall above it. We recommend one before pricing where the opening is wide or is being widened; where the wall above carries something heavy or unusual, such as a bay, a chimney breast or the end of a beam; where the pattern of cracking suggests the wall is moving for another reason; and where a surveyor’s or lender’s report asks for one. The engineer inspects and specifies the lintel or beam and how it is supported, and we build to that specification.
Fitting or replacing a lintel is structural work under the Building Regulations. On a house that normally means a Building Notice, submitted to your council’s Building Control before the work starts. You submit the notice and pay the council’s fee; our quotation tells you this at the start. Where a Building Notice is in place we arrange the Building Control inspections at each stage and photograph the work as evidence. Commercial buildings and blocks of flats need a full plans application instead, so tell us when you enquire. Chester is in England, so the Building Regulations for England are the ones that apply.
Related services in Chester
- Wall crack and brick crack repair in Chesterwhere the brickwork around the opening has cracked and needs stitching
- Brick repair in Chestercracked, spalled or missing bricks cut out and replaced to match
- Repointing in Chesterthe wall repointed once the structural work is done
- Bay window repairs in Chestermovement in a bay, where the lintel or beam over it is often part of the cause
- Lintel repair and replacement across North Wales, Cheshire and Wirralthe service page for the whole area
One contractor
One contractor, from the lintel to the plaster
Lintel repair and replacement
Steel and concrete lintels fitted over windows, doors and wider openings.
Crack stitching
Cracking around the opening tied back together once the lintel is carrying the wall.
Brickwork, pointing and render
Bricks matched in, joints repointed, and render or pebble-dash patched.
Windows, plaster and making good
Windows and doors refitted or renewed where they have to come out, and the inside left ready for you to decorate.
Questions people ask about lintel repairs in Chester
Do you cover Ellesmere Port, Whitby and Little Sutton for lintel repairs?
Yes. Ellesmere Port, Whitby, Little Sutton and Great Sutton, in CH65 and CH66, are covered from the same base as Chester. The Ellesmere Port photographs on this page are from a lintel job there.
My house is listed or in a Chester conservation area. Can the lintel still be repaired?
Usually, but tell us at the start. Work that changes the outside of a listed building, and some work in conservation areas, may need consent from the council before it begins. We repair like for like where we can, with matching brick, and lime mortar where the wall was built in it.
A buyer’s survey has flagged the lintels on a house in Chester. Can you quote before we exchange?
Yes. Send us the page of the survey and photographs of the openings and we will price the repair in writing, so you know the cost before you commit. Our house survey repair quotes page explains how that works.
The brickwork dropped after new windows were fitted. Is that the lintel?
It can be. In some older houses the original timber frame was helping to carry the brickwork, and a replacement window is not made to. If cracks or a dip appeared after the windows were changed, send us photographs of the head of the window from inside and outside.
Does a cracked lintel always need replacing?
No. Some can be repaired, and sometimes the lintel is sound and the cracking has another cause. A steel lintel that has rusted through, or a concrete lintel cracked right across, usually comes out. Cracked brickwork over a sound lintel may only need stitching and repointing. We tell you which we think it is, and why, before you commit to anything.
How much does lintel repair cost in Chester?
It depends on the job. The things that move the price are the width of the opening and what the lintel has to carry; what is there now and how it has to come out; whether the wall has a cavity; how much brickwork needs stitching, rebuilding, repointing or re-rendering; access, including whether scaffolding is needed; whether a structural engineer’s specification is called for; and the making good inside. When you compare quotations, check that each one allows for the temporary support, the cavity tray and weep vents where the wall has a cavity, the making good and the waste. Most jobs we can price from photographs — send yours on WhatsApp or by email and we’ll come back with a written quotation.
Request a quotation
Tell us which window or door it is and what you have noticed, and attach your photographs.
Send us a photo
Send us a photo, we’ll take it from there
You don’t need to describe the problem down the phone. A photo tells us most of what we need.
- WhatsApp or email us photos. — A couple of pictures of the problem and your postcode.
- We reply with what it looks like and what happens next. — Where the photos show enough, that’s a price. If not, we’ll tell you what else we need.
- You get a written quotation. — A clear scope of works, so you know what is included.
- We do the work and leave it clean.
Cracks above a window or door in Chester? Send us the photographs
Lintel repair & replacement — send us photographs
WhatsApp or email gets the quickest reply. We come back to you as soon as we can.
Nothing starts until you have agreed the scope in writing.
Written and reviewed by Michael Quirk, Director.