"Repair lintels"
The steel carrying the brick above your windows and doors is rusting, and rusting steel expands. This is the item on your notice that is genuinely getting structurally worse while you decide.
- Do I need a permit?
- This may need a permit, depending on scope. We will tell you which.
- Who actually does it?
- Our own crews. This is work we self-perform, so the schedule is ours to keep.
- Am I unusual?
- Not at all. This is one of the items we are called out for most, and it is rarely the only thing on the notice.
What the inspector was looking at
Courses lifted by rust jacking. Masonry cracking and stepping off the ends of the lintel. Steel visibly sagging. Paint gone and metal thinning.
What happens if you leave it
Rust does not stop. Each year the steel expands further, more brick cracks, and the repair grows from a lintel job into a wall job.
How we get it closed
- 1The opening shored and the masonry above the failed lintel removed carefully
- 2Steel cut out and replaced, correctly sized and properly bearing
- 3Masonry rebuilt over it with brick matched to yours
- 4Primed, sealed and flashed so the new steel does not repeat the last one
Before you start worrying about the cost
Handled now, this is a defined job with a defined price. That stops being true once the surrounding wall has to come apart too.
This is almost never the only item
Chicago inspectors write up everything they can see in one visit. Fixing this and leaving the rest means the case stays open and you go to the hearing anyway. We price and clear the whole notice: our own crews on nearly all of it, licensed partners on the plumbing, heating and electrical items, and nothing left dangling for you to chase.
See how the whole thing worksUsually on the same notice
If you see any of these on yours too, that is the normal pattern rather than bad luck. They tend to share a cause.
The joints get ground out and repointed to match, so the wall stops shedding mortar and the inspector stops writing it up.
The masonry under your windows repaired and pitched properly, which is the cheapest way to stop water getting into the wall.
The engineer report the City is demanding, filed, plus the repairs it calls for. Until this lands, nothing else on your notice can close.
Cited for steel lintels? Let us take it from here.
A quick call, then we come out and price every item on the notice in person. Free, and you are under no obligation to use us.
Licensed and insured. A person answers, Monday to Saturday.