Age and type of house
An Edwardian bay has a crack at the junction with the main wall. Has the foundation under the bay been seen?
No. The foundation under the bay has not been seen. An Edwardian bay has a crack at the junction with the main wall, and the visit recorded that crack. It did not excavate beside the bay, so the depth, the type and the condition of whatever the bay sits on are unknown. Bays often meet the main house on a different base, and the junction is a common place for a crack. The survey has not decided the bay is subsiding. It has noted a crack above an unseen foundation.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
The crack tells you the bay and the main wall are not moving as one piece, or that they did not at some time. It does not show the footing. Edwardian bays were frequently built with shallower support than the main wall, but this visit did not prove that here and did not measure a depth. Fill, drains or tree roots, if they matter, are also unseen. Guessing a cause from the crack pattern alone would go beyond a foundation that nobody exposed.
Ask the solicitor whether any engineer’s report or monitoring already covers this bay, and keep it separate from the crack note. A lender may want the foundation understood if it is uneasy about the junction. That needs an opening or an engineer’s instruction, which the home survey has not carried out. Do not tell anyone the bay footing was inspected. The report’s limit is that it was not seen.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Where is the crack at the bay junction described?
- What does the report say about excavation beside the bay?
- Does any sentence claim a foundation type or depth?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the bay foundation as unseen.
- Keep the crack note separate from any later engineer’s report.
- Do not state a cause that needs the footing to be exposed.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
Does a vertical crack at the junction always mean the bay is pulling away now?
Not always, and not on this visit’s evidence. A vertical crack shows a split at the junction. It does not show whether movement is live, and the foundation under the bay was not seen. The survey has not diagnosed ongoing movement. Dating the crack and exposing the base would be further work, not a result already written.
Was the main house foundation exposed instead?
No. The question is the bay, and neither foundation was established by digging. The survey recorded a crack where the Edwardian bay meets the main wall. It did not see the foundation under the bay. The main wall’s footing is not a substitute for the base that was not exposed.