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The actual bearing length provided on each end of the lintel.
Measure how far the lintel actually rests on solid masonry beyond the opening's edge.
The type of lintel, which sets the applicable minimum bearing length.
The lintel as it is specified, because the minimum bearing differs by material and by what the lintel is doing: a steel angle over a small opening, a precast concrete lintel, and a masonry-clad box lintel do not share a rule. Where the drawing names a manufacturer's product, that manufacturer's own bearing requirement governs and is usually longer than a code minimum — a lintel bearing the code minimum onto a soft or incomplete pad is a detail that passes a check and fails on site.
Provided bearing length
6 in
The minimum bearing this lintel type calls for is below the bearing you have provided shown with it — you entered it from the drawing. Being under one limit is not a design. Nothing else is checked here — not the other limit states, not the connections, not the member the load arrives from.
- Required minimum
- 4 in
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Masonry Lintel Bearing Length Checker: 6 in — shown in imperial, US market. The link sets both, so the result they see is the one on your screen.
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How this was calculated
Formula source(s)
- Standard building code minimum lintel bearing length is 4 in on each end; steel or reinforced masonry lintels require at least 5 in bearing; the Portland Cement Association recommends a minimum of 6 in for concrete lintels
Inputs used
- Provided Bearing Length
- 6 in
- Lintel Type
- General masonry opening (4 in code minimum)
Intermediate steps
- Required minimum
- 4 in
Confidence note: The minimum bearing this lintel type calls for is below the bearing you have provided shown with it — you entered it from the drawing. Being under one limit is not a design. Nothing else is checked here — not the other limit states, not the connections, not the member the load arrives from.
What this calculation does not cover
- The three minimums are imperial figures, and the checker converts whatever you enter into inches before comparing, so the result is always reported in inches even in metric mode. A 100 mm bearing, the usual minimum in British and European lintel practice, converts to 3.94 in and is reported as a failure against the 4 in general minimum, a shortfall of 1.6 mm. Treat a marginal fail of that size as a units artefact and check the minimum your own jurisdiction actually specifies, which may be expressed in millimetres and may scale with span.
- This is a comparison of one length against a fixed minimum. It never asks for the load above the opening, the span, or the width of the lintel where it sits on the wall, so it cannot say whether the masonry under the bearing is being crushed. Bearing stress is the end reaction divided by the bearing area, length multiplied by width, and on a long span or a heavily loaded opening that check can demand more bearing than the code minimum, so a pass here is a geometric pass and not a stress pass.
- The figure you measure is how far the lintel overlaps the wall, not how much of that overlap is solidly supported. Bearing over ungrouted hollow block cells, an unfilled perp joint, a chase, a cavity tray or a compressible damp-proof course delivers less effective bearing than the tape shows, and hollow units at the bearing normally have to be filled solid or swapped for a solid-top or bond beam unit before the measured length counts.
- Nothing here examines the masonry beyond the bearing. Load spreads downwards and outwards from the bearing into the wall below, so a narrow pier between two openings, a bearing close to a corner, a movement joint or an unrestrained return can be the real weak point even when the bearing length itself is generous. The required end distance or minimum pier width is a separate check set by your masonry code.
- A passing bearing says nothing about the lintel itself. Whether the section can carry the load over the span, and whether it deflects enough to crack the masonry above or bind the door or window below, are separate questions handled by the lintel load capacity calculator. Deflection over brittle finishes is normally limited to a fraction of the span, commonly somewhere between span over 360 and span over 600 depending on the finish and the jurisdiction, and that limit often governs before strength does.
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This result is a specification — 6 in — not a quantity. Put the thing it sizes into your project: how many, what you call it, and your supplier’s price.
Computed in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded. Presented in US customary units and US trade terminology. Where a formula follows a published standard, that standard and its edition are cited beside it on this page; where none governs, the page says so. Local amendments override model codes — verify against the code in force where you build.
Sources checked 2026-09-06 · in the site-wide review of 2026-09-06 · v1.0.1
Regulatory standards & verification citations1
- Standard building code minimum lintel bearing length is 4 in on each end; steel or reinforced masonry lintels require at least 5 in bearing; the Portland Cement Association recommends a minimum of 6 in for concrete lintels
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