Would you like the lintel bar over your firebox? This bar stretches over the top of the fireplace and supports the front of the fireplace. This crucial chimney component has been removed by many interior designers, contractors, and homeowners. The fireplace lintel may not seem significant for you, but it plays a crucial role in safeguarding your property.
Lintels are typically concealed in the heart of an open fireplace but may serve a vital function in preserving the structure of a fireplace.
We have created a full fireplace lintel guide to explain all about fireplace lintels.
What Is A Lintel Fireplace?
A fireplace lintel is a horizontal bar or beam that crosses the top of a fireplace.
The function of a chimney lintel is to disperse the load from above when the chimney is opened downwards towards the sides of the firebox.
A fireplace lintel may be built from many materials, and the kind and materials for each fireplace vary. All fireplaces might have varied aperture sizes and varying loads from above.
In certain situations, instead, the lintel can be an arch of materials like stone or brick, but it is easier to manufacture and install horizontal and flat lintels.
A chimney lintel is usually constructed of steel and may also be known as a fireplace lintel bar.
Where Do You Install Fireplace Lintels?
A lintel is placed on the top of a fireplace opening and is connected to the fireplace side. Fireplace lintels are most often located behind the fireplace and may be concealed for cosmetic purposes behind other substances.
Since the fireplace lintel is to stretch the burden over a fireplace through the aperture onto the side of the fireplace, the lintel is always positioned at the end of the chimney.
5 Common Types Of Fireplace Lintels
Brick
Brick lintels can be employed when the aperture is smaller than 1m and the weight is comparatively light. The lintel’s depth may range between 10 cm and 20 cm. Bricks that offer the mortar a special recess, which leads to stronger connections, are preferable to conventional bricks.
With the installation of a horizontally mild steel bar and a vertical stirrup, 6 mm in diameter, brick lintels may also be strengthened for greater loads.
Stone
Rectangular stone pieces can be sculpted into a lintel. It can be made of one piece or several sections. The lintel is available. The lintel’s thickness usually is 10 cm per meter. Stone is highly strong and solid yet hefty and has a weak tensile nature, making it prone to cracks when the structure is vibrated.
Concrete
The reinforced concrete lintels are extremely robust and have high stiffness, fire resistance, and ease of building. They can handle any weight and length. Typically their thickness is 8 cm per meter. Two major types are precast lintels and cast lintels.
Steel
For big openings and severe weights, steel lintels are employed. They are built of rolling steel joints or channel sections, either as a single section or a two or three-section combination.
The steel jacket is embedded in the concrete or covered with a stone face when used alone. If more than one part is present, tube separators are employed to maintain the sections in situ.
Wood
Wooden or wooden lintels are the oldest lintel forms and were widespread earlier throughout the world. More contemporary materials are usually preferred nowadays. The expense, structural weakness, and fire vulnerability of wooden lintels compared to contemporary alternatives. They are also prone to rot if they are not aired correctly.
The lintel can be built from two or more panels of wood for bigger openings. Mild steel plates are sometimes utilized to reinforce the lintel’s tops and bottoms.
Why Are Fireplace Lintels Important?
In most locations, building codes need a fireplace with a lintel. It is essential to sustain the weight of the chimney and safeguard other components from the fire. It might be an expensive error to remove it.
Structural support is a major purpose for a lintel. Over time, Mortar joints and bricks might worsen. The front of your fireplace might fall into the firebox without a lintel if it’s masonry. This is precluded by the lintel. It also establishes a solid base to support your chimney in severe cleaning equipment to resist vibrations of power.
The lintel bar also protects the chimney masonry from the greatest heat of the fire. While fireplaces are constructed to resist extreme temperatures, they can be destroyed and damaged by enormous heat. The lintel lowers the thermal exposure of the remaining chimney. This increases the life of the chimney and reduces the danger of cracks or other heat damage.
How To Put A Lintel In A Fireplace
- Decide on the height of the lintel: The size of our wood burner dictated this and what we believed would be visually pleasant.
- Take a brick on either side to install the lintel.
- To size cut lintel: To account for this overhang, you need to ensure that you acquire a lintel at least 30cm longer than your opening!
- Set the lintel upon a mortar bed: You want to ensure that at this time, your lintel is straight upright. If not, put a wiggle on the side to be lowered to slightly dip into the mortar.
- Relay any bricks that remain: It is a good thought to lay them again if you prefer loose or wobbly bricks on top of your new lintel so you know that they’re correctly secure.
- Redecorate the surrounding
Conclusion
By the end of this article, we hope that you have acquired some beneficial knowledge about fireplace lintels.
All in all, there should always be a fireplace lintel or arch over the mouth of your chimney (to support the building material above your wood-burning stove). You may frequently see this lint or arch by putting a lamp into the aperture for your builder or removing plaster from a chimney breast or wall (as long as you have an opening or have begun excavating).
