Hi Lisa. What style of windows and colour are you going for? You can buy brick slips, basically a sliver of a real brick, which you may be able to match in. Presumably you can't afford to replace the lintels so maybe have a look at stone effect paints but it depends on what look you're going for

Thanks for your reply. I think we're going to fit white flush casement upvc windows, which do you think would work best?

Both could look good, it really depends on the style of the window, are they contemporary or sash style etc? Is there a lip on the lintel or is that the top of the window? If using bricks, I'd obviously have them pointed upwards which may be a bit tight on the top window. If it were mine, I'd try the stone effect paint first as its cheap. You may also be able to get some form of wood cladding

You can 'skim' bricks by way of cutting them down with a disc cutter/angle grinder. You could take 10-15mm off the face of the brick, stick it onto the concrete lintel with suitable adhesive and then point up with mortar but the bricks will stand proud. Now that's OK if you have the equipment to hand and you feel confident to at least give it a go and if that being the case then it's be pretty cheap to do. If you rely on a tradesman doing it then there's no point as it's a lot of 'faffing' that will end up costing a fortune in labour. If I were to do it I might even take out 10-20mm of the lintel with an angle grinder and chisel and then fit the slips flush but you'd have to take care not to damage the lintel or take too much away. I think you might be safe with a third of the width, similar to the amount you can overhang a brick. Again, a fair amount of work, especially up a ladder!

If you get the window company to attach a fascia panel then it would be in-keeping with the new window materials and the current eaves materials. It should be cheap anyway. If, for example, you were replacing the windows with a grey aluminium contemporary window then they might need taking out, but you're going to put in white framed windows that aren't to dissimilar to what you have already so with that being the case I'd personally just save all the hassle and keep the lintels.

Out of interest - what have neighbouring properties done or do they all have the same concrete lintel?

Hi Lisa

You could consider external window trim. It would be like putting a door architrave around the window, but using a suitable external product. There are traditional 'moulded' examples as used on Georgian properties but you would probably want something simple and contemporary looking. Have a look at 'Canamould' for ideas. They are Canadian but the images would give some inspiration. Put in 'external window trim' in the Houzz product search and some ideas should be there. You will need to make sure the window cill projection is long enough. Your PVCu window supplier might be able to create a trim to go around the window but you would not want any fixings showing so it is all nice and neat. Hope the idea is some help!

Stuart

Thanks to all for taking the time to write with advice. All the other houses around us are different so its only a problem for our house, but this has given us lots of options to think about so thank you :)