Subsidence, settlement and heave
A raking crack leaves the corner of a window and runs up to the ceiling. What opening is that crack using, and what foundation depth was not measured?
It is using the window opening, and no foundation depth was measured. A raking crack that leaves the corner of a window and runs up to the ceiling is following the weak point openings make in a wall. The survey has recorded that path. It has not dug down, and it has not measured how deep the foundations are. The corner of the window is the opening the crack is using. Depth of the foundation is the figure this visit does not contain. The pattern is not a foundation measurement.
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?
Windows interrupt the masonry, so stress gathers at the corners and a diagonal crack often sets off from the head and climbs. That is the crack using the opening. It can happen with foundation movement, with a lintel, or with long-term shortening of the wall, and the direction alone does not pick. What it certainly does not do is measure the concrete or the brick footings under the ground. Nobody on this inspection excavated.
Ask the surveyor to describe the crack as leaving that window corner, and to confirm no foundation depth is in the note. Tell the solicitor not to add a depth, or a cause, that the survey did not measure. If an engineer is asked about foundations later, they start from the building and, if needed, from the ground, not from a number this report never held. The lender should see a raking crack from a window, which is the opening it is using.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Does the raking crack leave the corner of the window?
- Did you measure any foundation depth on this visit?
- Is the opening the crack is using the window, rather than a proved foundation failure?
What are the typical next steps?
- Describe the crack as using the window opening.
- Do not insert a foundation depth the survey did not measure.
- Keep cause and depth for a later investigation if one is needed.
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
If the crack is mirrored over the window next door in the same wall, is the depth known?
No. A second crack from another opening still uses openings. It does not measure the foundations. The survey did not record a depth for either crack, and repetition is not that measurement. The inspection did not stretch the raking window crack into any wider claim at all.
Does the crack reaching the ceiling mean the roof has spread?
Not by that fact alone. Reaching the ceiling means the crack climbed that far from the window corner. Roof spread was not measured. The opening the crack is using remains the window. Keep the raking window crack inside the facts the surveyor actually recorded on the day.