Wood storage entry height

[james]

Do we have a mechanical or structure engineer in the group who can do calculations on load bearing for the block stand and concrete hearth. The lintels in the stand are intentional over-kill so that there would be no issues with the span over the wood storage.

It's easy and expensive to build the lintel, so it seems like the right design trade-off.

What do you think about the course of blocks in the lintel? Do they take up too much space in the wood store?

Of course if someone were to want to build without it, and can do the load calculation to their satisfaction, you could always built it without the lintel. Some builders have that, though the really build up the structural concrete layer much thicker.

What do you think?

Cooking height is definitely the first consideration.

James