Sometimes it’s shaped like an arch. Is this just for aesthetics, or is it structurally necessary?
In: 8
In newer buildings the windows have a steel angle lintel or beam above them that the brick rests on. The bricks/stones are in rowlock or soldier course orientation strictly for aesthetics.
In much older buildings this could have served a structural purpose, with the stones shaped in such a way that they would function as an arch. I don’t know if there are places in the USA that would allow an opening in masonry veneer without a lintel above. Where I work in Canada a steel lintel is required by code with very few exceptions, and even in those excepted cases another type of lintel of equivalent strength is needed.
Latest Answers