OPENINGS IN WALLS

Functions of openings
 The door and window openings are built to provide:

i. Access

ii. Light

iii. Good appearance

iv. Ventilation (air)

 Door openings start from top of 2.1m below the siffit ifthe lintel and have
varying widths.

i. Lighting

 Windows allow natural light to enter into the house.

They start at a certain height above ground floor.

 The size of the window depends on the size of a floor.

ii. Ventilation

 The process of allowing free circulation of the air in the house is known as
natural ventilation.
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iii. Good appearance

 Proportional openings render the wall more appealing to the eyes.

iv. Access

 Door openings allow the occupants to move in and out of the building.
 Parts of openings
i. Jambs

 They are the vertical sides of openings.

ii. Reveal

 It is the vertical face of an opening for a window or door way between the
frame and the outside face of a wall.
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 iii. Threshold

 A threshold is a piece of timber, concrete or stone beneath a door opening.

iv. Sill or cill

 It is the lowest horizontal member beneath a window used to shed off rain
water from an opening.

v. Soffit
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 It is underside of a lintel.

A lintel is a member placed over opening to support the weight of the wall
over the opening.
 Setting out openings
 The location and size of an opening require careful planning in order to:

Avoid unnecessary cutting of bricks

Arrange the pattern of bonds properly.

 When the location and size of an opening has been shown in a drawing the
number of full blocks, the half pieces and their positions in a course should
be established.

 The exercise is carried out using a gauge rod or a tape measure.

 Bridging of openings in masonry walls

 The brick work or block work over the head opening have to be supported
either by:

a) Flat lintels

b) Arches

Lintels
 There are various types of lintels in their construction e.g.

i. Timber or wooden lintels

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ii. Stone lintels

iii. Brick lintels

iv. Reinforced brick lintels ( R.B.Lintels )

v. Steel lintels
 vi. R.C.C. lintels

vii. Thin lintels

i. Timber or wooden lintels

 In old days when technology was not much advanced, timber lintels were in
very common use.

Even today in some of the construction wooden lintels are used.

 Nowadays availability of timber has become difficult and costly.

Secondly it is very easily affected and white ands and other insects and
combustible hence not recommended for use in fireproof construction.

 Wooden lintels are comparatively weak and relieving arches of brick or

stone should therefore be used
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 ii. Stone lintels

 Stone lintels are in very common use in regions where stones are easily
available.

They may be used in form of single piece or more than one piece.

 Stone lintels are very weak in tension and thus cannot be used in large
spans.

If used in spans of 1m, it should be relieved from most of the loads by

providing relieving arches.

 Stone lintels are required to be dressed before use and hence prove costly.

 The lintels can be used over a span of 3.0m but in that case two or three
3.50m long pulties are used on edge side by side and space between pulties
is filled with cement concrete.
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 iii. Brick lintels

 Brick lintels are made by using first class bricks either laid on end or on
edge.

They are suitable for small spans not exceeding 900mm.

 For construction of their lintel, a temporary timber support known as

turning piece is constructed first.

Thickness of the lintel should be in multiple of brick courses.

 For larger spans and heavy loads, this lintel should be used in that case
reinforced brick lintel may be used.

iv. Reinforced brick lintels (R.B. lintels)

 When brick lintels have to be used over large spans, they are reinforced
with steel bars.

 Bricks are arranged in such a way that 20mm to 40mm wide lengthwise
spaces are left in the brick rows.

Steel rods are put in these gaps and spaces and then filled with rich mortar
or concrete.

 If gap is about 20mm wide rich cement mortar is used.

If gap is about 40mm, it should be filled with cement concrete.

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Depth of the lintel should be minimum 100mm.

 For openings more than 900mm wide a brick lintel can be supported by a
wrought iron bearing bar, the ends of which are built into brickwork jamb
and on which the brick lintel bears.

 The bar has bent or cranked, ends for building into the vertical joints in
brickwork at the jambs of the opening.
  This is not a satisfactory method of supporting the lintel as the bar is visible
on the soffit of the lintel and looks ugly, and in time it will rust and look
uglier than it did when first built.

 Also the bar has a tendency to sag and the lintel may sag with it.

As an alternative mild steel angle section is built with its ends in the
brickwork either side of the opening and supporting the lintel.

The size of angle usually used is 50 x 75. This is a satisfactory method of

supporting the lintel but unless the door or window frame is fixed near the
outside face of the wall the angle will show and in time will rust and look
unsightly.

 Another method of supporting is to drill a hole in each brick of the lintel.

This can only be successively be done with fine grained bricks.

 Through the holes in bricks around section mild steel rod is threaded and
the ends of the rod are built into the brickwork either side of the lintel.

This method of supporting the lintel is quite satisfactory but is somewhat

expensive because of the labour involved in the drilling of the bricks.
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 v. Steel lintels

 Angle irons are used for small spans and light loads whereas rolled steel
joists (I-girders) may be used singly or in groups of more than one joist.

The joists may be painted and left open.

 But if building is to be rendered fire-proof the joists should be embedded in

concrete.

vi. Thin lintels

 Thin lintels are nothing but R.C.C. lintels having a thickness of about 75 –
100mm only.
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 Compression of the lintel is considered to be borne entirely by the brick or

stone masonry above the lintel.

In thin lintel some height of the masonry above thin lintel is considered
acting as part of the lintel.
  Since some masonry act as part of lintel in bonding, it should be built
preferably in 1:3 cement mortars.

vii. R.C.C. lintel

 This lintel is durable, strong, corrosion resistant and fire resistant.

It is economical than all other lintels and easy to construct.

It can be used for any span and any load.

 R.C.C. lintels can be pre-cast or cast in-situ.

Pre-cast lintels are convenient and economical for small spans and any
load.

 Progress of the work is also more in pre-cast lintels as they do not need any
casting or curing at the site.

 When pre-cast lintels are casted, the upper surface of the lintel should be
marked by some identification marks so that lintels may be used correctly.

 For large spans, lintels are always cast in-situ.

The usual concrete mix for R.C C. lintel is 1:2:4.

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 Functional requirements of lintel formwork
The formwork should:

i. Be strong enough to support the wet concrete.

ii. Be accurately set out so that the lintel will take the correct shape, size
and be in the right position.

iii. Be erected of sound material.

iv. Be in a form which can be easily constructed and removed.

v. Be properly supported
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 Making an in-situ concrete lintels
i. Erect the timber formwork across the opening and support it from the floor
below or masonry.

The supports are fixed usually at intervals of 600mm apart.

ii. Seal all the joints with building paper or mastic between the timber
formwork and the brickwork to prevent the cement and water leaking out.
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iii. Paint the inside of the formwork with releasing oil.

This stops the concrete sticking to the timber.

iv. The reinforcement with bent ends and laid from the longitudinal end to the
other at centres not more than 150mm apart.
 v. Small concrete blocks with protruding wires called spacer blocks are placed
between the formwork and the reinforcements.

They are tied to the reinforcements using the wires.

 The purpose of the spacer blocks is to create a space between the

formwork and the reinforcements.

As concreting is done this space is filled with concrete covering the steel
rods at the bottom side.

vi. Concrete is then poured into the formwork and compacted thoroughly.

It is then cured in position by splashing water over it every day for seven
days.

 After seven days the lintel is watered everyday for seven days in the
morning and evening.
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After 14 days the lintel will have developed enough strength and hence the
formwork is stripped off.
 Advantages of cast-in situ
i. Eliminates the dangers involved in lifting a pre-cast lintel into position.

ii. It bonds better with the wall as the concrete is cast wet in position.

Disadvantages of cast-in situ

 It is more expensive due to the formwork with all the props and the braces
wrich become necessary in supporting the wet concrete until the final
strength is achieved.

Pre-cast lintel
 Pre-casting is the process of making the lintel separately from a building.

It can be done on or off site.

Procedure of making a Pre-cast lintel

i. Make a timber box with an open top which is the same size as the external
dimensions of the finished lintel.

ii. Paint the inside of the box with releasing oil.

This stops the concrete sticking to the timber.

iii. Bend the ends of the reinforcement bars to right angles (90o) or into semi-
circular shape.

iv. If the lintel consists of more than one bar, then make short cross bars and
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wire the cross bars to the long bars.

Insert spacer blocks that hold the bars 25 – 50mm from the bottom of the
formwork.

v. Place the reinforcement bars in the formwork and check that the bars are
50mm from end of the box and supported by spacers.
 vi. Mix the required amount of concrete.

vii. Pour concrete in the timber box and make sure that it flows down around
and under the rods, then compact it down to remove any trapped air.

viii. Make a smooth finish on the top of the concrete with a wood float and
write the word ‘’top’’ on the wet concrete.

ix. Cover the box with wet sacking and leave it to set for seven days.

 Advantages of pre-cast lintels

i. No major formwork is required.

 A simple mould is all that is required

ii. Being at ground level, it is more convenient to work with and a better
product is obtained.

iii. There is no danger of collapsing formwork and walling can progress

uninterrupted as there is no need to wait for the lintel to set and gain
strength.

Disadvantages of pre-cast lintels

i. The lintel is heavy and must be lifted in position.
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 Not many firms posses lifting equipments such as hoists, cranes, pulley
blocks, etc.

ii. It is dangerous to lift a heavy lintel in position.

 Whenever it is done ensure that the walls on which it is to be placed has set
properly to eliminate the danger of pushing the upper courses and the
lintel falling on the bystanders.
 Span Depth Reinforcement bar
diameter

900mm 150mm 10mm

1200mm 150mm 12mm

1500mm 215mm 12mm

1800mm 215mm 16mm

 The design of the lintel should use these additional measurements.

i. One reinforcement bar for each 112mm width of the lintel.

ii. The bearing of the window must be more than 150mm.

iii. At least 25mm of concrete must cover the bottom of the reinforcement
bars.

iv. At least 50mm of concrete must cover the ends of the bars.

Boot lintel
 When concrete has dried it is dull light grey in color.
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Some think that a concrete lintel exposed for its full depth on the external
face of the brick walls is not attractive.

 In past it was a common practice to hide the concrete lintel behind a brick
arch or brick lintel built over the opening externally.

A modification of the ordinary rectangular section lintel known as a boot

lintel is used to reduce the depth of the lintel exposed externally.
  The lintel is boot shaped in section with the toe part showing externally.

The toe is usually made 65mm deep and this small depth of concrete
showing over the opening does not spoil the appearance of the brickwork.

 The main body of the lintel is inside the wall where it does not show and it
is this part of the lintel which does most of the work of supporting
brickwork.

Some think that the face of the brickwork looks best if the toe of the lintel
finishes just 25mm or 40mm back from the external face of the wall.

 The brickwork built on the toe of the lintel is usually ½ brick thick for
opening up to 1.8m wide.

The brickwork above the top of main part of the lintel bears mainly on it
because the bricks are bonded.
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If the opening is wider than 1.8m the main part of the lintel is sometimes
made sufficiently thick to support most of the thickness of the wall over it.

 When the toe of the lintel projects beyond the face of brickwork it should
be weathered to throw rain water out from the wall face and throated to
prevent water running in along soffit or underside.
  If efflorescence is likely to occur on the exposed surface of the lintel due to
soluble salts in the concrete being withdrawn when the wall dries out after
rain and being left on the face of brickwork in the form of white dust, this
looks ugly.

To prevent it, the faces of the lintels in direct contact with the external
brickwork should be painted with bituminous paint.
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