Let's forget that I mentioned the possibility of moving the crab. I suffer from over exuberance based on what I might personally do if I was the one dealing with these issues. In re-appraising it's size, it's going to be beyond your capabilities and not worth paying for. That said, now that we know it's a crab, it's not going to be useful to you along the side of the house because of its ultimate size, which will be quite large. Better to get rid of it now and forget about it. When I said place trees there, I'm not implying size, but form ... a woody plant that is limbed up with a clear trunk, or trunks, below. The available space determines what size the plant should ultimately be, and here I'd say a 10' to 12' height at mature size is about right. A plant I would consider to be about right for that is beauty bush (Kolkwitzia amabilis.) Another possibility would be dwarf burning bush. But many woody plants capable of achieving that size (and little or no more) are generally thought of as "shrubs," but here they are limbed up to expose the trunks. (Beauty bush craves to do that on its own.) Common lilac is another possibility. The primary objective of the drawing is to suggest a rough layout. Given that you have "cottage garden" and as an objective, I can't really help with how you might further subdivide the space into a multitude of plants, or what they might be. My offering ends at suggesting mass, size, arrangement and that sort of thing. Keep in mind that the "busier" you make it, the greater the likelihood that the overall artistic statement is weakened and the greater are the chances of increasing the upkeep maintenance. Simpler is easier on all counts. While some think it's more boring, I think it generally has greater visual strength. I'm sure you can find your proper balance. While some plants like butterfly bush are magnets for butterflies, I find that if there are blooming things at all, butterflies will be there. I wouldn't become too obsessed about having plants if they don't fit well. Things that do fit can do the job. Keep in mind that the space is quite small, so you'll probably not be able to fit all of the plants you dream of into the scheme.

Not only does the wall need braced internally, you need waterproofing from the exterior. The brick should not look saturated like that. There are multiple ways to brace the wall from further bowing. I would recommend the carbon fiber bracing over beams, but beams (either steel or treated timbers) work also. On cinder block you need a brace every 16 inches so every cinder block is supported. If you put a 4 foot level up against the wall, you can measure how many inches it has bowed. Looking at the pictures it looks braceable and not a complete rebuild of the wall. More info: http://www.uswaterproofing.com/learning-center/pros-cons-of-carbon-fiber-foundation-repair http://www.stablwall.com/

Thanks everyone. I’ve decided to sell the house while I’m still under warranty. When i get an offer if the buyer hires an inspector any issues that arise that should be covered under warranty i will send it over to the no good builder. If it’s a couple thousand or less in repairs or something I may eat the cost. I don’t want to get into prolonged legal battles the home has already increased in value by about 30k in the 11 months I’ve owned it so hopefully I’ll walk away with a chunk of change in my pocket. I’m over it, I live in a rural area I honestly feel the builders and inspectors around here have no integrity. Two new houses were built across the street the grade looks awful, most the homes in this subdivision are new/built In 08 at the latest. They all are built pretty close together with grades similar to mine where the neighboring house have a grade much higher and slopes wonderfully into peoples homes. The city inspector out here seems clueless. I’m not an engineer so I didn’t notice this to be a problem when I was first interested in buying the home. After now experiencing it, grades may be one of the most important thing for me to focus on when buying a home. Yet my house passed city inspections, builders built it without a care in the world. I even hired an individual inspector to double check the home prior to the purchase. Either the folks out here have no idea what they are doing or they simply don’t care. I remember asking the city inspector when he came out here to look at it and I asked why is my neighbors grade so much higher then mine? He said “well son you are on a hill” bologna I found a google street view photo of my lot back in 2008 when this lot was empty and it was completely flat. These homes were built at the same time and i think they were just too lazy to do anything about that dirt and they just piled it up. Prior to my neighbor having landscape rock put in her grade looked like a clumped up mess. She can’t even access her side gate or even walk on that side of the house it’s literally just a giant sloping hill of rocky heavy clay you are practically sliding down hill trying to even walk on that side. Where I’m from this would never pass any sort of inspection. I’m sure she’s going to have issues down the road her self, honestly I hope everyone of these homes has issues. They may not see it yet but maybe the city inspector needs a reality check since he passes this type of Work as acceptable... my fence is even bowing out and screws breaking off the posts from the weight of her grade against it. Fence dug into the dirt all around the peremiter. What shotty work and inspections. I’m a new home owner and had to learn the hardway how awful this is. Yet contractors and inspectors don’t mention a word about it like it’s normal and acceptable. If I was an inspectoe (knowing what I know now) I would of suggested to the buyer a French drain be put in or problems may arise. That way I could of had the builder do it or walk away from the purchase but nope it wasn’t mentioned once. Lesson learned don’t trust city inspectors or any inspectors at least in rural areas like mine.

Lea, thanks for the pictures. I’m not sure I can tell you exactly what is causing this, but I would suspect one of two possible issues. One could be, that there is only one top plate on your wall and there is a splice near the end of your window header, allowing some flex in that location. The diagonal bracing ends in the same place and could be contributing too. The other possibility is that there is an air leak on that side of the window which also happens to be where a sheathing splice occurs. Because the outward movement happens during cold weather, I’m guessing this is most likely the case. Your sheathing looks like “intermediate” board or Built-Rite, a product that’s made up of pressed wood fibers, and expands when exposed to moisture. When it drys out, it doesn’t usually go back to its original size, but could soften enough to take the pressure off. I don’t think this is a structural problem to worry about, but air leaks do affect durability. The house has survived 70 years with this condition, I would learn to live with it and be careful with any energy upgrades that can create more indoor humidity or air pressures.