Cracked Window and Garage Heads in Fairmount and Camillus
Fairmount put 38.9 percent of its houses up in the 1950s alone, which is exactly when the bare steel angle became standard.
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Why openings are the Camillus town question
Out in the town, and in Fairmount especially, the crack over an opening is the masonry problem worth your attention. Fairmount's 4,569 homes have a median build year of 1961, only 5.0 percent of them predate 1940, and 38.9 percent went up in the 1950s alone. Those are the decades when a bare steel angle over the window, the door and above all the garage was standard and galvanizing was not. So the soft mortar argument that governs the village two miles away is close to the wrong question here, and the tops of the openings are the right one.
What lintel repair involves
What goes over the new steel, and how it was sized
Two questions separate a repair that holds from one that repeats. First, what goes over the angle: the brick industry specifies continuous flashing installed over the steel, between the angle and the outer masonry facing, to collect water and divert it out through weepholes, and says weepholes should be provided at lintel level whether or not flashing is used. Second, how the replacement was sized, because many cracks over openings come from excessive deflection caused by rule of thumb selection rather than calculation. On a garage head that second question is the expensive one.
Flashing over the angle, weepholes in the facing
The brick industry specifies continuous flashing over the angle, placed between the steel and the exterior masonry facing, to collect moisture and divert it outside through weepholes, and adds that weepholes should be provided in the facing at lintel level regardless of whether flashing is used. Both belong in the scope in writing.
A garage head should be calculated, not eyeballed
The same guidance says many cracks over openings are due to excessive deflection from improper or inadequate design, and that lintels should not be selected by rule of thumb without analyzing the loads and calculating the stresses. Its limit is a deflection no greater than one six hundredth of the clear span and no more than three tenths of an inch.
Village or town changes the whole question
Camillus village is 32.2 percent pre-1940 across 771 homes. The town around it has 11,481 homes, a median of 1966 and a 6.1 percent prewar share, with Fairmount at 5.0 percent and 42.7 percent of its stock from 1940 to 1959. One name, two different masonry problems.
Fairmount's 1950s share, and what the brick industry specifies
Camillus village has 771 housing units with a median year of construction of 1958 and a pre-1940 share of 32.2 percent. The Town of Camillus around it has 11,481 units, a median of 1966 and a pre-1940 share of 6.1 percent, so the village's prewar share is more than five times the town's. Fairmount, the largest census place inside the town, has 4,569 units, a median of 1961, a pre-1940 share of just 5.0 percent and 38.9 percent of its stock built in the 1950s alone.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, table B25034 Year Structure Built and table B25035 Median Year Structure Built, accessed 2026-09-10
The same technical note states that proper consideration must always be given to moisture control wherever there are openings in masonry walls, and that there must always be a mechanism to channel the flow of water present in the wall to the outside. It specifies that even where galvanized or stainless steel angles are used for lintels in cavity and veneer walls, continuous flashing should be installed over the angle, placed between the steel and the exterior masonry facing material, to collect and divert moisture to the outside through weepholes. It adds that regardless of whether flashing is used, weepholes should be provided in the facing at the level of the lintel to permit the escape of accumulated moisture.
Source: Brick Industry Association, Technical Notes 31B, Structural Steel Lintels, accessed 2026-09-10
The Brick Industry Association states that many of the cracks which appear over openings in masonry walls are due to excessive deflection of the lintels resulting from improper or inadequate design, and that the structural design of lintels should not involve rule-of-thumb methods or the arbitrary selection of structural sections without careful analysis of the loads carried and calculation of the stresses developed. Its serviceability limit is that lintels supporting masonry should be designed so that their deflection does not exceed one six-hundredth of the clear span, and not more than three tenths of an inch, under the combined superimposed live and dead loads.
Source: Brick Industry Association, Technical Notes 31B, Structural Steel Lintels, accessed 2026-09-10
Window, door, or the garage opening?
Say which, with the Camillus or Fairmount address. The garage is the one that costs the most to get wrong.
Other work we cover across Camillus and Fairmount
Garage and window heads: what Camillus owners ask
The crack over my garage door keeps coming back. Why?
Because a garage head is the widest span on the house and the one most often sized by eye. The brick industry is blunt that many cracks over openings come from excessive deflection due to improper or inadequate design, and that lintels should not be chosen by rule of thumb without calculating the loads and the stresses. Its serviceability limit is a deflection no greater than one six hundredth of the clear span and no more than three tenths of an inch. If nobody can say what the replacement was sized against, that is your answer.
Do I need weepholes if the new lintel is galvanized?
Yes. The guidance specifies continuous flashing over the angle even where galvanized or stainless steel is used, placed between the steel and the outer masonry, with weepholes to let the water out, and it says weepholes should be provided at lintel level regardless of whether flashing is used. Galvanizing slows corrosion, it does not stop water getting into a wall. The route out is the part that protects the new steel.
Get a Fairmount opening sized properly
A crack from a top corner, a garage head sagging, a stain over a door: describe it with the address, no obligation.