As we built up the brick envelope around the window and door openings, we installed lintels above each opening. These will serve not only as trims or casing for the top part of each opening but also as a support on which the next row of bricks will rest. Using one solid piece of wood for this operation was not an option given the width and depth of the openings. We opted for building the lintels and casings out of an assembly of planks and small beams.

This might be considered as over-killed but we did not want to take any chance of having window casings damaged with water penetration. During hard and heavy rain falls, we noticed that there was some water penetration above the window and door openings at the junction between the stone wall and the concrete lintel. During heavy rain falls with wind, a few drops of water could be seen at the edge of lintels at a few openings inside the house. Although we have not seen any water since all the roof gutters have been put in place, we preferred to be safe and decided to install gutter pans under each lintel. These gutters are another one of those home-made inventions my father made and we are pleased with the results.