Thick SiC epitaxial layers have been grown by sublimation on different initial surfaces in the range of 1800-2200degreesC. Evidences have been obtained that independently of the polytype and the surface polarity, there exists a transition region between the substrate and the epilayer in which the crystal structure is highly disturbed either by formation of misfit dislocations, predominantly in growth on vicinal (off-axis) surfaces or by domain boundaries and polytype transformation during growth on atomically flat (on-axis) surfaces. The transition layer thickness may vary from 15 to 50 mum and it seems to depend on the growth rate.