tuckpointing above window

[bubblegummom]

Hello! The young man who tuckpointed a wall of my house ground out this area on top of the window:

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and he wouldn't fill it back in again because he said something about he thought there should be a piece of metal in there. Does anybody know anything about that?

Thank you!

Loretta

 

[nealtw]

The bottom row of brick should be sitting on a peice of angle iron to support the bricks above it. Is there more bricks behind the flashing in the picture? If so the should be steal under them. If is not there you do need to have it put in before you have a big problem.

 

[bubblegummom]

nealtw,

What do you mean by the flashing? Do you mean inside the house in the basement? No, there's no bricks in there.

This seems to be the way the house was built in 1942.

How would it be put in?

Loretta

 

[nealtw]

The flashing is the white metal above the window in your picture. They would remove the bottom row of bricks past the window on each side and put heavy iron across the opening and replace the bricks on top of that. If this window was original to the house it should be there.

 

[joecaption]

lintel - Google Search
Just some of the ways the bricks can be supported over a window.

 

[bubblegummom]

Thank you nealtw. I'm going to take a flashlight and see if I can look up underneath the flashing and see what might be up there.

Thank you for the link, joecaption. Interesting and informative.

 

[nealtw]

Use a magnet!