Post+and+Lintel



Posts and lintel system, in building construction is a system in which two upright members, the posts, hold up a third member, the lintel, laid horizontally across their top surfaces. All structural openings have evolved from this system, which is seen in pure form only in colonnades and in framed structures, because the posts of doors, windows, ceilings, and roofs normally form part of the wall.

Failure occurs when the material is to weak or the span is to long to support the load. This makes the beam bend or break. This aspect combined with others can cause many structural accidents, destroying the structure like a house of cards.

**Posts**
__The job__ of the post is to support the lintel and its loads without crushing or buckling. Failure occurs, as in lintels, from excessive weakness or length, but the difference is that the material must be especially strong in compression.

Stone, which has this property, is more versatile as a post than as a lintel; under heavy loads it is superior to wood but not to iron, steel, or reinforced concrete. Masonry post, including those of brick, may be highly efficient, since the loads compress the joints and add to their cohesiveness

**Beam**
__The job__ of the beam or lintel is to bear loads that rest on it, also includes its own wheigth. __Cantilever Beams __  A cantilever beam is a beam that is anchored only at one end. 