Angle Iron vs. acrow props

Hi there,

I'm currently opening up a fireplace at home. I need to stick a concrete lintel in, and I'm trying to decide the best way to support the brickwork above the opening whilst I pop it in. Of course, the standard procedure is to pop a prop with a stronboy in, but a friend of mine anchored a bit of angle iron to the course of brickwork above the position of the lintel. I was wondering what people on here reckon about that as an approach?

I've currently got a bit of 30mmx30mm angle iron in 3mm steel, 1250mm long. The opening will be just shy of a meter. The load that needs supporting is a single skin of brickwork forming the front of a chimney breast.

Is it a good idea? I've had a look at calculating the tolerances, but I'm not an engineer and it's left me a bit bamboozled!

Apologies if this isn't the right kind of thing to be psoting here. Hopefuly it'll be a bit of interest for someone.

Thanks.

At just shy of a metre (900? 950-ish?) You could use the arching effect of the brickwork to self-support; assuming its properly bonded, that is. Remove a few of your bricks, pop your section in, dry pack and re-lay. For such a small opening, a prop and a Strongboy would be more of a hindrance to the works.