Steel Lintels and Constructability 1

[vooter]

This one's been bugging me for a while...

Let's say I have a masonry building or a brick building or a msonry brick building, etc. In this instance, it is manadatory to use a steel W-shape for all lintels. OK, no problem.

How does the mason get the bricks to stick to the lintel? The flanges of the beam are kind of sloped, will the bricks slip off? What kind of surface prep is necessary? Is it common practice to weld some sort of studs onto the lintel prior to bricking-in?

I've watched, obviously not enough, some masonry construction and, always, I miss the completion of the work around the lintels. I've searched the web and all the lintel makers seem to not sell W shapes; they're into cold-formed lintels.

What's a good book for this sort of thing? I would like to see a lot of pictures, etc.

 

[apetr26542]

Usually the masonry wall construction is wider than the flange of the beam, thus a bottom plate is required, this provides the flat surface. Standard WF lintels are W8x and W16x, this is standard to the masonry such that the joint falls at the top flange, the bond of the mortar keeps things together,hooked bars can be grouted through the webs as well. It is not uncommon to weld rebar to the top flange and grout those cells. You might want to try a structural engineering handbook for construction details.

 

[vooter]

Bottom plate... I'm going to look for those from now on. I haven't seen any details that satisfied me in any book (not Gaylord's nor Amhein's) or on the various NCMA TEKs. Though I will keep looking.

 

[apetr26542]

Unless you select a very heavy W8x, the flange will not be wide enough to sit the masonry, therfore I usually call for a bottom plate the width of the wall - 1/8" and it is welded to the bottom flange of the beam. Be careful with supporting brick veneer, the eccentric load will create torsion.

 

[vooter]

Is it typical for the masons to chip or otherwise "machine" the brick or CMU or ... on the inside edge (?) to facilitate a better "fit" on the lintel and bottom plate beam?