Garage Door Lintel Detail

The inspector noticed that a steel plate acting as lintel beam is running over the garage door to support the brick layer above but it ended up 3 inches short on one end.

Garage door lintel detail.

Header the header is ideally a minimum 12 wide micro laminated beam that spans the width of the garage door opening. Acceptable solution e2 as1 to building code clause e2 external moisture is quite prescriptive. The steel used to support brick or stone work above doors and openings is called a lintel. After years of water infiltration and weathering the steel of the garage lintel begins to corrode and fail requiring a garage lintel replacement.

Lintel 65 mm requirements for flashing as for other door and window head details. Flashing needed for garage doors the requirements for flashing garage door openings are simple. They are the same as for external door and window details. As this size fluctuation happens over the years the weight of brickwork above a garage door puts pressure on the structure at its weakest point the middle.

A loose lintel i e. Garage lintel replacement is becoming more frequent as homes and buildings age. Header requirement 2 at minimum the header should be 12 wide with doubled 2 4 at opening and ceiling running the width of the door with a 2 4 in the center of the opening for the center bracket to attach to. Many home builders will not build in the necessary allowances for the expansion and contraction of the lintel over time.

The primary cause of a sagging lintel is poor design. Figure 1 garage door head detail with masonry veneer cladding and infill panel over the door. Without intermediate support bearing only on masonry at each end is allowed in the national building code and this is incorporated in the table below. Figure 2 garage door head detail with direct fixed bevel back horizontal weatherboard cladding.

Cut a 2 x 6 piece of lumber and nail to the face of wall exactly in the center of the garage header. Figure 3 garage door head detail with bevel back horizontal weatherboard cladding over a cavity. Last pull a measurement from the top of the 2 x 6 piece of lumber that you just installed to the ceiling of the garage. Sagging garage door header lift system the lintellift system is a patented product that ensures garage door lintels or headers won t sag.