Civil Engineering

Materials and Construction

By Dr. Chandan Kumar Singh,

Dept. of Civil Engineering
NIT, Raipur, CG
 Lintel

• A horizontal structural member which is fixed

over the openings namely doors, windows etc.
to support the structure or the openings is
known as lintel.
• Lintels behave like beam.
• They provide bearing for the masonry above the
openings and transfers all the loads acting over
the opening to the supporting walls.
• Lintels are generally rectangular in shape.
• They can afford facilities for fixing the doors and
window frames, wherever they are used.
 Types of Lintel
Lintels used in the construction industry are as
follows :
• Stone Lintel
•Wooden Lintel
•Reinforced Concrete Lintel
•Brick Lintel
•Steel Lintel
•Reinforced Brick Lintel

o Stone lintels are most commonly used in the areas where availability of stones is in abundant.
o Stone lintels are mostly preferred for stone masonry structures or buildings which are faced with stones.
o The use of stone lintels is very rare due to its high cost and lack of capability to withstand the transverse stress.
o The thickness of stone lintel is generally 8 cm but as a thumb rule it is kept 4 cm per 30 cm span.
 Types of Lintel
Lintels used in the construction industry are as
follows :
• Stone Lintel
•Wooden Lintel
•Reinforced Concrete Lintel
•Brick Lintel
•Steel Lintel
•Reinforced Brick Lintel
o Wooden lintels were used in old days when the technology was not that advanced.
o The use of wooden lintels has been reduced in modern world due to unavailability of timber in the market.
o Timber catches fire easily, hence they are not recommended for use in fireproof constructions.
o The standard depth of wooden lintel should be 7.5 cm (min).
o They are generally manufactured in single piece or in parts which are assembled later on site.
o Wooden lintels are comparatively weak in nature and hence stone or brick arches should be used along with it.
o It should be designed using flexural formula to use over large spans.
 Types of Lintel
Lintels used in the construction industry are as
follows :
• Stone Lintel
•Wooden Lintel
•Brick Lintel
•Reinforced Concrete Lintel
•Steel Lintel
•Reinforced Brick Lintel
o These brick lintels are used to span small openings (less than one meter) with light loading. The brick lintel is constructed over a
temporary wood support (i.e. acting as centering) known as turning piece.
o Bricks with frogs (i.e. depressions) are more suitable for construction of lintels as they are bounded and hence possess more shear
resistance at the end joints (i.e. greater lintel strength).
o Bricks should be hard, well-burnt, free from defects such as lumps, cracks, flaws etc. and with sharp and square edges.
o The depth of the brick lintels, which varies with the size of opening and appearance of brickwork should be multiple of brick courses
usually 10 cm, 20 cm etc.
o For bonding frog bricks, the cement mortar with mix proportion with 1:3 should be used.
o Brick lintels being weak in Strength cannot be used for heavy loads.
 Types of Lintel
Lintels used in the construction industry are as
follows :
• Stone Lintel
•Wooden Lintel
•Brick Lintel
•Reinforced Concrete Lintel
•Steel Lintel
•Reinforced Brick Lintel
o Reinforced concrete lintels are common in use due to their durability, strength and fire resisting properties.
o Moreover, they are cheap and easy in construction. They can be easily adopted for bigger span and heavy loading
construction.
o For the construction of R.C.C lintels 1:2:4 cement concrete reinforced along with steel bar is used.
o Generally, for larger spans, these lintels are cast-in-situ type because additional reinforcement has to be placed in lintels
due to heavy loading.
o Generally, for span of 1.2 meter, the depth of 15 cm is considered safe. As a thumb rule, addition of 25 mm for every
additional 30 cm span is recommended.
 Types of Lintel
Lintels used in the construction industry are as
follows :
• Stone Lintel
•Wooden Lintel
•Reinforced Concrete Lintel
•Brick Lintel
•Steel Lintel
•Reinforced Brick Lintel

o These lintels consist of steel angle or rolled steel joints.

o The former is used for small spans and light loading and the latter is used for large spans and heavy
loading.
o A steel lintel becomes useful when there is no space available to accommodate the rise of an arch.
o The steel joints may be used singly or in combination of two or three units.
 Types of Lintel
Lintels used in the construction industry are as
follows :
• Stone Lintel
•Wooden Lintel
•Reinforced Concrete Lintel
•Brick Lintel
•Steel Lintel
•Reinforced Brick Lintel

o The construction of brick lintels is very much similar to R.C.C lintels, but here good quality bricks are used
instead of concrete.
o In case if brick lintels are supposed to be used for larger spans, they are reinforced with steel bars.
o In case of reinforcing with bars the bricks are arranged in a pattern of parallel rows, such that 2-4 cm
wide space is left length wise for inserting the street bars or rods.
o After placing the steel rods or bars the cement concrete or cement mortar is poured and the space is
filled.
 Doors

• A door is a moving structure used to block off,

and allow access to, an entrance to or within
an enclosed space, such as a building or
vehicle. Similar exterior structures are called
gate.
• Typically, doors have an interior side that
faces the inside of a space and an exterior
side that faces the outside of that space.
• Doors normally consist of a panel that swings
on hinges or that slides or spins inside of a
space.
 Panel doors
• Panel doors, also called stile and rail doors, are
built with frame and panel construction. EN
12519 is describing the terms which are officially
used in European Member States. The main
parts are listed below:

• Stiles - Vertical boards that run the full height of a

door and compose its right and left edges. The
hinges are mounted to the fixed side (known as the
"hanging stile"), and the handle, lock, bolt, and/or
latch are mounted on the swinging side (known as
the "latch stile").
 Panel doors
• Rails- Horizontal boards at the top, bottom, and optionally in the
middle of a door that join the two stiles and split the door into two or
more rows of panels. The "top rail" and "bottom rail" are named for
their positions. The bottom rail is also known as "kick rail". A middle
rail at the height of the bolt is known as the "lock rail", other middle
rails are commonly known as "cross rails".
• Mullions - Smaller optional vertical boards that run between two
rails, and split the door into two or more columns of panels, the term
is used sometimes for verticals in doors, but more often (UK and
Australia) it refers to verticals in windows.
• Muntin - Optional vertical members that divide the door into smaller
panels.
• Panels - Large, wider boards used to fill the space between the
stiles, rails, and mullions. The panels typically fit into grooves in the
other pieces, and help to keep the door rigid. Panels may be flat, or
in raised panel designs. Can be glued in or stay as a floating panel.
• Light or Lite - a piece of glass used in place of a panel, essentially
giving the door a window.
 Plank and batten doors
• Plank and batten doors are an older design
consisting primarily of vertical slats:
• Planks - Vertical boards that extend the full
height of the door, and are placed side by side
filling the door's width.
• Battens - Smaller slats that extend horizontally
across the door which the planks are affixed
to. The battens hold the planks together.
Sometimes a long diagonal slat or two are
also implemented to prevent the door from
skewing. On some doors, especially antique
ones, the battens are replaced with iron bars
that are often built into the hinges as
extensions of the door-side plates.
 Ledged and braced doors
• This type consists of vertical tongue and grooved
boards held together with battens and diagonal
braces.
Frame and filled
doors
• This type consists of a
solid timber frame,
filled on one face,
face with Tongue and
Grooved boards.
Quite often used
externally with the
boards on the
weather face.
 Flush doors
• A flush door consists of a
framework of rails and
stiles and it is covered with
plywood. There are two
varieties of flush doors
• Flush doors are simple
door designs that have
plain facings on both sides.
Flush doors may have a
solid, hollow or stave core.
• It consists of styles, rails,
laminated core and
plywood as shown in fig.

LAMINATED FLUSH DOOR FRAMED FLUSH DOOR

 Louvered doors
• In this type of doors, the shutters
are provided with louvers, either
fully or partly. The louvers are
arranged at such an inclination that
horizontal vision is obstructed. The
louvers maybe movable or fixed as
shown in fig.

• Shutter with horizontal slats that are

angled to admit light and air, but to
keep out rain and direct sunshine.
The angle of the slats may be
adjustable, usually in blinds and
windows, or fixed.
 Collapsible Steel doors
• It consists of a mild steel frame. A collapsible
steel door works without hinges and it is used
for compound gates, residential building ,
schools, sheds, godowns , workshop, public
building , etc.
 Revolving doors
• It essentially consists of a centrally placed
mullion in a circular opening revolving
shutters which are 4 in number are radially
attached to pivot as shown in fig.
 Windows
• TYPES OF WINDOWS
• Depending upon the manner of fixing,
materials used for construction, nature of
the operational movements of shutters ,
etc., the common varieties of windows used
in the building can be grouped as follows:
• Casement windows
• Sliding windows
• Metal windows
• Corner windows
• Gable windows bay windows
• Lantern or lantern lights
• Skylights
 Windows
• Casement windows
• Sliding windows
• Metal windows
• Corner windows
• Gable windows bay windows
• Lantern or lantern lights
• Skylights

These are the windows, the

shutters of which open like
doors. The construction of a
casement window is similar to
the door construction.
 Windows
• Casement windows
• Sliding windows
• Metal windows
• Corner windows
• Gable windows bay windows
• Lantern or lantern lights
• Skylights

These windows are similar to the

sliding doors and the shutters
moves on the roller bearings, either
horizontally or vertically. Such
windows are provided in trains,
buses, bank counter, shops etc.
 Windows
• Casement windows
• Sliding windows
• Metal windows
• Corner windows
• Gable windows bay windows
• Lantern or lantern lights
• Skylights

These are now a days widely used, especially for public building. The metal used
in construction may be mild steel, bronze, or other alloys. The metal frame may
be fixed direct to the wall or it may be fixed on a wooden frame.
 Windows
• Casement windows
• Sliding windows
• Metal windows
• Corner windows
• Gable windows bay windows
• Lantern or lantern lights
• Skylights

These windows are provided at the corner of a room .They are placed at the
corner of the room and thus they have two faces in two perpendicular direction.
Due to such situation, there is entry of light and air from two direction and in
many cases , the elevation of building is also improved.
 Windows
• Casement windows
• Sliding windows
• Metal windows
• Corner windows
• Gable windows bay windows
• Lantern or lantern lights
• Skylights

These are the windows which are provided in the gable ends of a roof.
 Windows
• Casement windows
• Sliding windows
• Metal windows
• Corner windows
• Gable windows bay windows
• Lantern or lantern lights
• Skylights

These are the windows which are fixed on flat roofs to provide light to the inner
portion of building where light coming from external windows are insufficient.
They maybe square or rectangular or curved.
 Windows
• Casement windows
• Sliding windows
• Metal windows
• Corner windows
• Gable windows bay windows
• Lantern or lantern lights
• Skylights

These are the windows which are provided on the sloping surface of a pitched roof.
The common rafter are suitably trimmed and the skylight is erected on a curb frame.
As skylight are mainly meant for light, they are usually provided with the fixed glass
panel.