Our basement wall is cracking and bowing. We got an estimate to rebuild the wall - at over $20,000 we would like to repair this ourselves. I have talked to someone who purchased from a local store (a few years ago) a "deadmen". Basically he explained this as a two large plates and you sandwich the bowing wall with the plates. Then you drill a hole in the foundation wall and use a threaded rod to pull the wall back straight. He said the plates where large, maybe 3 or 4 feet tall. Anyone know where we can find these? The local store he purchased them from doesn't carry them anymore. Thanks.

I had a deck installed about 4 years ago. The support system is posts 4x4 into footings what are 12 inches deep. (all pressure treated) However, now one of the posts is loose, and is leaning away from the deck, making the whole railing on that side somewhat loose. +/- 6 inches of play on the end where the footer is loose (the run is about 60 ft long). What's the best approach for resolving this ? Pour an additional footer around the current one ?? -Beth