What is Lintel? Types of Lintel

A lintel is a sort of beam used to support the above wall when a construction structure requires openings such as doors, windows, etc. The lintel's primary role is to carry loads from the top of the wall and move their load to the side walls. Generally speaking, the lintel beam finishes in the masonry wall to transmit the weight they carry to the masonry walls and their thickness is the same as the wall thickness. Also the lintel can be used as an component of ornamental architecture.

Types of Lintel

Lintels are categorized by the components of their building into the following kinds:

1. Timber lintel
2. Stone lintel
3. Reinforced concrete lintel
4. Brick lintel
5. Reinforced brick lintel
6. Steel lintel

Timber Lintel

In the hilly regions where wood are accessible, timber lintels are primarily used. But wood uses are restricted in simple fields due to the high price. It also has other drawbacks.

Timber is liable to decline without adequate ventilation.
It's less lasting.
It is susceptible to fire because of the combustible wood.

Stone Lintel

In this region where the stone is abundantly accessible, this sort of lintel is primarily used. Its use is largely restricted to constructions of stone masonry. There are some disadvantages of using stone lintel. Firstly, its high cost and secondly its inability to withstand excessive transverse stress. The thickness of the stone lintel is a very important factor for its design. As a thumb rule, the thickness is taken as 4 cm. per 30 cm length of span and the minimum thickness should be 8 cm.

Reinforced Concrete Lintel

Because of their durability, rigidity, strength, and fire-resistant characteristics, reinforced concrete lintels are currently very prevalent in use. They are appropriate for bigger spans and heavy loads. They are also economic and simple to build. The RC lintels ' primary benefit is that they are adaptable to fit any size and shape. You can either pre-cast or cast-in-situ RCC lintels. Generally, when the lintel span is lower, reinforced cement concrete lintels are used. Width of lintel should be the same as thickness of wall. The lintel depth relies on the span duration and magnitude of the load.

While concrete compression is powerful, tensile stress is very low, so the primary reinforcement

Brick Lintels

Brick lintels are built with first-class brick hard, well burnt. It can be created as bricks on the bottom, bricks on the bottom and bricks set over openings horizontally. This type of lintel is used with a light loading condition when the opening is small (less than 1 m). Their depth differs depending on the span from 10 cm (depth of one brick) to 20 cm. Bricks with mortar-filled frogs offer more shear strength than ordinary bricks at the end joints.

Reinforced Brick Lintels The issues for brick lintels are heavy loads and bigger span lengths. Using the reinforcement bars, these can be overcome. Reinforced lintels of brick therefore provide more assistance than the lintels of brick. The depth