Exterior Door Question

This door was added after the fact. The wood lintel didn’t look right to me. It’s only resting on the door frame. I was surprised to see a permit taped to the other side of the door.
Do some steel doors have built-in lintels?

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No, there should be a separate metal lintel extending into the brick. Just curious, on the inside, did the door swing fully open or did it hit the wall as the door should have been recessed into the opening with a jamb extension? Looks like typical weekend warrior work.

Wrong
No support there.
Even the caulking looks messed up

Just my thought
The opening was probably larger then this newly installed pre-hung door (metal with wood jamb, most likely a Home Depot / Lowes special) and the wood (green board) was used as a filler / shim, maybe not be the best choice. From looking at the photo you provided it appears that the top brick on each side of door jamb have been removed, possibly lintel reinforcement like steal angles, but cannot see other side to confirm and could be possibly covered up in inside.

So how did they get the permit to do it wrong?

you can pull a permit for any work you like if you’re a GC. doesn’t mean you actually do it right. The city/municipality doesnt send out inspectors to look at every permitted job, not around here. I sucks but its true.

John … this is the difference between home inspectors and AHJs and you should document this for future clients.

Building codes are politically derived and are politically applied. As a municipal building inspector I observed how being the mayor’s cousin and being the mayor’s political opponent could result in a variety of interpretations for how the same standard would be enforced by the city’s various departments. Ten years later, when someone was considering the purchase of a home that had “permitted” and “inspected” upgrades they would be oblivious to the fact that they were purchasing a home that was materially defective in spite of the permit.

I lost count of the number of times I would call out a serious electrical or mechanical issue in a commercial establishment and be told that the previous inspector who had worked for a different mayor (and with the help of a little cash on the side) had approved the installation.

Codes are meaningless to a home inspector other than to provide you with an idea of what to look for when identifying a defect. Other than that, they should never be cited or relied upon as an indicator of quality.

Write it up and anticipate that the seller will present the permit … and possibly a local contractor … to dispute your call. It goes with the job.

Nice catch.

I can see what you mean about the top bricks so you could have something there.

It is possible that a steel lintel was added.
Look at the two bricks that were removed and reinstalled where I have arrows.
A brick lintel is 4"x3-1/2" for an opening that size, so you would not see the leg exposed.
They added a piece of pt to make up the difference in height of the RO and the brick opening.
Now they could install a trim board to hide the messed up caulking.

Installation like this, the brick should have been toothed and door recessed in 3".

Like Bobby mentioned, the door opens `100 degrees and hits the wall on the interior.

Bad installation.

IMG_1484.jpg:slight_smile:

So where are the weepholes…

And where is the flashing to make the weep holes work?;):slight_smile:

So Bobby Hamilton and Bob Elliott say there is no lintel and it’s wrong.
Gary Rowden and Marcel Cyr say there could be a lintel.
How do I write it up? I could say “Have a qualified contractor tear it apart and check for a steel lintel” but somehow that just doesn’t seem right :wink:

We can’t see the bottom, but sure hope that was not an outswing unit installed backwards.

In inspecting the exterior door unit, we observed that exposed wood and caulked joints should have been covered with trim and/or the door unit installed with the standard 3" reveal.
It appears that a steel brick lintel above the door remains questionable whether installed or not.
I would recommend a licensed qualified contractor to review this installation and recommend proper installation requirements. :slight_smile:

Call it out as no visible lintel or weeps and recommend a contractor dig it out to see.
I am looking at a 100 year old place with a picture window and no weeps or lintels visible and trying to clue the puzzle together today as mine has gone to step and ledge cracking with zero weeps and sloping,and it is an old addition,so better to err on the safe side and look a fool than get sued.(was a front porch at one time)(no inside view ).

Since no one else has answered here’s my thoughts.

  1. If the lintel is missing then report it.
  2. If the lintel is in question, then report that and why and recommend further evaluation from a qualified professional.
  3. If there is a more than reasonable possibility that the lintel is there, then report nothing and move on. Of course that’s a decision that only you can make sense you had a better view on site of this concern.

Never report a defect on something you are not sure of, dont[FONT=Comic Sans MS] speculate. All homes will have some type of defect, some hidden and some not. Thing will get missed from time to time, no one’s prefect, just do your very best, learn and grow.[/FONT]

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it……

Yep…beat your click…lol

[QUOTE=jbushart;887985 Codes are meaningless to a home inspector other than to provide you with an idea of what to look for when identifying a defect. Other than that, they should never be cited or relied upon as an indicator of quality.

Write it up and anticipate that the seller will present the permit … and possibly a local contractor … to dispute your call. It goes with the job.

Nice catch.[/QUOTE]

And, in doing so, you cover your butt and your client’s butt, if you can get your client to trust you. When the “manure hits the ventilation impeller” you are covered, even though the codie and GC said it was OK and you called it out.

I have many instances where I called something out, the GC contested it, the client belived the GC and bought it, then the place went to hell. The client calles back, complaining. I point out that I called out these things in the report and that the client didn’t (want to) believe me.

Keep life easy.

Hope this helps;

Just finished a puzzle piece inspection and because so much of the old work was covered and the clues involved I recommended a S.E plus made sure my intro letter spelled out that repairs could be costly.
Rear porch converted and front porch converted to additional living space with little structure view able.
I document what I see,give my opinion based on previous experience and then the big pass the buck which we all hate to do but sometimes necessary.

Do you have a Magnet?