Lintel Replacement in Scranton, PA
The steel angle over a window, a door, or a garage opening is a lintel, and it carries the brick above the gap. When water reaches the steel and it rusts, the rust swells and lifts the brick, cracking the joints over the opening. We replace rust-jacked lintels across Scranton, cutting the failed steel out and rebuilding the brick course above it.
How Rust-Jacking Works
Steel rusts once water gets to it, and rust takes up several times the space of the steel it came from. A lintel buried in a wall cannot swell sideways, so it swells up, and it carries the brick course resting on it along with it. That upward push cracks the mortar joints over the opening, most often in a stair-step pattern climbing off the corner of the window. The crack is the symptom. The rusting steel is the cause.
Where It Shows Up
Check over the windows, the front door, and the garage door. The garage header is a frequent offender, because it spans the widest opening and carries the most brick. A stair-step crack, brick that looks shoved up at the ends of the lintel, or rust bleeding down the wall from the steel are the signs. On an older house every opening has a lintel, and they tend to fail at about the same age.
Cutting Out the Old Steel
We shore the brick over the opening, then take down the course or two sitting on the lintel. The rusted angle iron gets cut free and pulled. The bearing pockets at each end, where the lintel seats into the brick, are cleaned back to sound masonry. Support first, then remove, so the wall above never loses its footing during the swap.
Setting a New Angle Iron
The new lintel is a galvanized steel angle iron, sized to the opening and set with solid bearing on each end so the load carries into the wall. Galvanizing is what buys the years, since the coating keeps water off the steel that started the whole problem. We set it level, lay the brick course back on the horizontal leg, and repoint so the repair matches the wall.
What It Costs
Lintel replacement runs about $800 to $2,500 per opening, including rebuilding the brick course above. A garage door header, wider and carrying more brick, sits at the top of that range. Access and how much cracked brick has to be swapped move the number. Every opening gets a free look and a written estimate.
See a stair-step crack over a window or garage door? (570) 555-0148 gets you a free estimate. Cracked brick over the opening gets handled as part of the brick repair at the same time.
What is a lintel?
A lintel is the beam over an opening, a window, a door, a garage door, that carries the brick above it. In most Scranton houses it is a steel angle iron. The brick rests on the horizontal leg of the angle, and the angle spans the gap so the wall over the opening stays put.
What is rust-jacking?
When water reaches an unpainted or worn steel lintel, it rusts. Rust takes up several times the volume of the steel it forms from, so as the lintel corrodes it swells and lifts the brick course sitting on it. That lifting cracks the joints over the opening, usually in a stair-step line. The steel is jacking the brick up as it rusts.
Can you replace a lintel without taking down the whole wall?
Yes. We support the brick above, take out only the course or two resting on the lintel, cut the rusted steel free, set a new galvanized angle iron with proper bearing on each end, and rebuild the brick. The rest of the wall stays where it is. It is a localized repair around the opening.
What happens if I leave a rusted lintel alone?
It keeps rusting and keeps lifting. The crack over the opening widens, the brick above works loose, and in time a brick over a window or a garage door can drop free. A rust-jacked lintel does not settle down; the steel keeps swelling as long as water keeps reaching it.