As upper boundaries of window or door openings, lintels take on the function of stable beams. A lintel spans the wall opening and rests at its two ends on the masonry next to the wall opening.
Historically, lintels made of monolithic natural stone blocks were first used (column-slab system), later steel-reinforced lintels were concreted on site. In the course of optimising the construction process and in order to avoid long waiting times, prefabricated lintels are largely used in today's buildings, which are prefabricated at the factory and delivered to the construction site and installed as complete components. Suchlintels are made of reinforced concrete, for example, but pure steel beams are also common. In addition, masonry manufacturers now also offer brick lintels, for example, there are prefabricated lintels made of sand-lime bricks or bricks – each reinforced with steel reinforcement.
lintel must be stable enough to support the loads above it without bending and damaging the window or door frame underneath.
It absorbs the weight from above and dissipates it into the more load-bearing masonry areas.
A distinction can be made between four basic types:
> baukobox.de
