Okay, here's my deal. On my north basement wall I am noticing cracks in sheetrock and other damage to walls perpendicular to basement wall (poured concrete, about 20 years old). One wall, finished with paneling, is bowing, probably due to the thinness of the paneling. Another wall, covered with sheetrock, is crumbling near the top. The basement is finished, except for the garage area where the basement wall is exposed. I put a plumb line on the top of the wall and near the floor it was out two or so inches. I'm assuming this is bad. What kind of repairs are out there? On a scale of 1 to 10 how bad is this? Can it wait? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

It means your basement walls are falling in. Yes, this is very serious, and not cheap to fix. The sooner you can get them fixed, the less expensive it will be. This is a professional type job. In some cases the walls or portions of them can be saved. But most of the time they have to all come out and be rebuilt. I would pull the paneling off the bowed portions right away so you can see the walls. There are many reasons for this. The two most basic reasons are rotten concrete (dirt in the concrete when made, or dirty sand) and tree roots. Good LUck

 

Id put it at a 12+ get at it now. could you dig by hand some from where the wall is out of the ground from the garage on around and get some of the pressure off of the walls.
ED

 

Yes, I forgot to rate your problem. I agree with Ed 12+ I am starting a job Monday with people who that very same problem.

 

get some posts to support the floor above in the meantime it's a 12 alright get a contractor in there NOW

 

I think I might need to clarify my description of the problem. As far as I know the concrete walls are not crumbling. What is crumbling is the portion of the sheetrock on the walls perpendicular to the basement wall, where I believe the walls are putting pressure on the sheetrock. The paneled wall is also perpendicular to the basement wall. I have noticed a few cracks in the garage where the concrete wall is exposed. But there hasn't seemed to be much post-cracking movement. Does this change your opinions at all?

 

Go into the drywall now and find out what you do have. You said
2" out of plumb. find out now if it is the wall or what. new drywall dont cost that much to put back ED