I wouldn't put a lilac there; you are right & they will get bigger than you want. Unless you got a dwarf kind. And also you are right to thinnk about powdery mildew in that spot, probably not enough air circulation. How about a viburnum--there are a zillion cultivars & you can prob. find one that will take a while to get huge. Or just get a dwarf version of whatever shrub you choose. Also there are native shrubs like serviceberries; maybe there is a smallish cultivar for the spot. Also, there is a new fothergilla called Blue Shadow I think, gets very bluish leaves but not as big as its parent, Mt Airy. The leaves are more blue when it has more sun.

Carol - If the beams are attached to the concrete floor and floor joists above in a way that does not allow the floor above to move up slightly when the bolts are tightened then you would be correct that they may work against you. I would try tightening a couple Grip-Tites then removing the bolts from the closest beam or beams and seeing if the Grip-Tites can then be tightened more, proving that the beams were holding them back. I think you are right, but I probably would remove all the bolts at once, just in case. Just my thought. --Rick

There should be a continuous load path from the foundation to the top of the house to strengthen any wood to wood, metal to wood, etc type of connections. See the attached link for a diagram. While it is usually code to do this at the connections a continuous metal path is not required as structural wood members don't typically break in half, they fail at the connections/joints. Example being that wall studs don't break typically break in half, the failure may occur at the stud to top plate connection. Metal strapping is less expensive than threaded rods & easier to install so I'm not sure why anyone would use threaded rods. The j-bolts secure the sill plate to the foundation, strapping secures the wall studs to the sill plate, strapping secures the wall studs to the top plates, hurricane ties secure the rafters to the top plates, and so on. Mike Here is a link that might be useful: Strong-Tie flyer

I tried some metal ones that weren't the butterfly toggles and they caused a shelf to crash down and rip out big holes in the wall too. I finally got toggle bolts that have the big wings. The guy at the store told me to make sure they were plenty long, I got 2" since it was just going thru 1/2" drywall. I found they wouldn't tighten very well till I put pressure on them to snug the toggle against the wall, then it 'grabbed' and went in tight. I will never again use anything but those toggle bolts, I've tried everything for sheetrock walls and nothing holds but those.