Post+and+lintel



Post-and-lintel system in building construction, a system in which two upright members, the posts, hold up a third member, the lintel, laid horizontally across their top surfaces. All structural openings have evolved from this system, which is seen in pure form only in colonnades and in framed structures, because the posts of doors, windows, ceilings, and roofs normally form part of the wall.

The lintel must bear loads that rest on it as well as its own load without deforming or breaking.

The lintel must bear loads that rest on it as well as its own load without deforming or breaking. Brick or stone, weak in tensile strength (inelastic and brittle), can provide only a short lintel; steel can be used for long lintels.



Masonry lintels, depending on the cohesiveness of mortar, are especially weak; therefore, in masonry construction, lintels of monolithic (single slab) stone, wood, and stronger materials are used.

