Age and type of house

What is the difference between naming a 1930s lintel and saying that lintel has failed?

Naming it — concrete, timber, a steel angle, a stone — is identification. Failure is a separate sentence: dropping, cracking at the bearings, a gap over the frame, or a dip you can see. A 1930s house can still have its original lintels and be fine. Do not replace every opening because the report named the type.

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?

Surveyors name lintels so you know what they could see. A boot lintel over a window is ordinary. Movement is the bulged brick, the tapered crack from the corner, or a frame that no longer fits. If the report does not describe movement, do not add it. If it does, ask which openings, and whether the rest were sound.

A builder’s quote to ‘replace all lintels’ is a different job from the survey. Ask the surveyor which openings need a structural opinion, and which only need decoration. This page does not give a price for either.

What should you ask your surveyor?

Which openings show movement, and which did you only name?
What type of lintel did you see, and where could you not see one?
Do you want a structural engineer, or only a builder’s quote for a stated opening?

What are the typical next steps?

List the openings the survey actually criticised before you ask for quotes.
Do not accept a whole-house lintel replacement on the strength of a type name.
If one opening has dropped, photograph it and send that photo with the survey page.

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

Are concrete lintels a 1930s defect?

No. They are a common way of spanning an opening. Condition is separate from the material.

Does a crack in plaster over a window prove the lintel has failed?

Not on its own. Plaster cracks for other reasons. The survey should say what the masonry and the frame are doing.