At Wade, all our concrete lintel products are independently tested, and accredited with a CE mark, or British Standard. It means that the span tables from suppliers can be trusted to deliver the loadbearing capacity indicated in the manufacturer’s documents. For details on the specific products we supply, check the corresponding information below.
Naylor Lintel Span Tables (Updated 2025)
Download the Naylor Lintels Brochure Here (all details included)
DownloadHow Long Does My Lintel Need to Be?
Concrete lintels come in standard lengths, but can be cut to size if you require a bespoke span. The clear span will always be 300mm less than the standard length indicated as there is the need to have a minimum 150mm bearing.
A lintel that is less than 1m can have a bearing of just 100mm at each end, for a structural opening of 800mm. If your lintel looks like it will exceed 3m, it’s advisable to go bigger and go for a 200mm bearing each end.
What is an SWL, UDL, and a PL?
These are common abbreviations that you will see on every concrete lintel span table:
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SWL = Safe Working Load and refers to the total load a lintel can carry per metre of its length
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UDL = Uniform Distributed Load can be interpreted similarly to SWL, but is used with concrete lintels to distinguish between the weight loading a lintel can manage per metre of length and its PL performance.
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PL = Point Loading becomes important when your building requires support for individual beams, for hollowcore, concrete slab construction, or other heavy duty application.
Point loads relate to the mid-span point of the lintel, and the values are arrived at independently of the tests for UDL or SWL.
If your project engineer has specified a particular UDL or PL, a concrete lintel span table will be able to help you select the right one for the job.
What is The Maximum Span for a Concrete Lintel?
The maximum clear span for any concrete lintel is an amazing 3200mm, with a 200mm bearing each end (3600 total length). To give you an idea of how big that is, a standard British garage door is 2190mm, and would require a concrete lintel of just 2500mm.
At Wade, we have a professional team who understand the span of things and can help and advise you at every stage of your project. Call us to discuss your project needs today!
