Skip to main content

Ready to hire?

Post your job in minutes, browse real reviews and choose who to speak to.Post a job

Need some tips or advice?

Ask a question
Restoration & Refurbishment

Is it ok to put an extractor fan through a lintel?

Anonymous user 16/03/2024 - 2.48 PM

Our electrician has fitted a bathroom extractor fan above the bathroom window. The hole for the fan starts a few cm above the window, which means that the bottom part of the hole (about half of it) has been drilled through the concrete lintel. The electrician says this is ok and there's no risk of structural damage as the hole is made towards the edge of the window. Is this correct? Edit: thanks everyone for your answers. Just to say that the lintel is concrete (as far as I could see in the hole), no steel. House in 1950s. I’m so stressed :(

Are you a tradesperson and able to answer this question?

Log in

11 Answers

Blackwood Electric

No reviews yet

Glasgow
No, it’s pretty common practice to avoid lintels when coring holes for fans, etc. Never drill through any structural steel/concrete without the permission (written) of a structural engineer. It’s just not worth the risk!
Answered8 October 2022
0

JPK

Rating: 4.9 out of 5
Denbigh
No not so ever
Answered8 October 2022
0

Anonymous user

No this is not correct. A lintel is a supporting component and drilling through it will have compromised the strength and structure of lintel and window area. The lintel is intended to span the window, providing support for the brickwork above. Very bad practice.
Answered8 October 2022
0

Pyramid Installations

Rating: 5 out of 5
Wallasey
Lintels are designed to span a gap and be of sufficient cross section to support the load above. The most vulnerable point, should it be damaged in any way, is towards the centre where the loading from above is maximised. Lintels should not be core drilled, the fan should have been fitted elsewhere. That said, now that it's done, and at the risk of contradicting myself, the brickwork above should span the gap given it's only half a hole. But, that is only a should, no guarantee that it will.
Answered8 October 2022
0

Johnston Building Services

Rating: 4.8 out of 5
Oxted
Absolutely not, a lintel is there for a reason. These lintels are reinforced with steel. If they have cut through the steel then it has been damaged and weakened it purpose
Answered8 October 2022
0

Inactu Facilities Support Ltd

Rating: 5 out of 5
Stockport
No, any damage or hole in the lintel will affect its load carrying capability.
Answered8 October 2022
0

Carl hares roofing and building

Rating: 5 out of 5
Welshpool
The simple answer is no its not ok to cut a core for the extractor through a lintel Lintels are precast concrete with steel reinforcing running through the middle of them they must sit a minimum of 150mm or 6inch on either side of the window opening the weight of the wall above is then carried through into the walls either side of the window Most new concrete Lintels are approximately 75mm thickness with the steel roughly in the middle if half the material in the top of the lintel has been removed then you risk the lintel collapsing
Answered8 October 2022
0

P.J.P. Building Services

Rating: 4.9 out of 5
Fareham
No, you would most probably cut through the reinforcement bars that help to support the lintol
Answered8 October 2022
0

MK JOINER EDINBURGH

Rating: 5 out of 5
Edinburgh
That’s absolutely wrong and should never core through lintel! Thanks.
Answered8 October 2022
0

n.r.t. brickwork

Rating: 4.7 out of 5
Rotherham
No it's not right what he's done concrete lintels are made of concrete or steel because they need to be stronger to span the opening. Coreing through this has took strength out of it and the weight of the brickwork above will eventually crack the lintel and put pressure on the window.
Answered8 October 2022
0

Heeted Ltd

Rating: 3.7 out of 5
Stockwell, London
This goes against building regulations section A The lintel is a key supporting structure to support the brickwork above a window negating any weaknesses the window causes to the structure There are guidelines and restrictions even as to how far away from the lintel one is allowed to drill. You may not install an extractor through a lintel as this will severely affect the integrity of the building. I hope this answer mitigates your concerns Kind regards Heeted Ltd
Answered8 October 2022
0