When you wall is bowing inside, you have too much pressure outside. This may be from saturated clay soil, which swells and puts pressure on the wall; bad downspout lines could cause this, or the slope of the ground could be leading water to this area. The freeze-thaw cycle in the winter can also give this result.

If you have problems with bowing walls it’s covered in Section I of The Home Waterproofers Manual – Home Waterproofing A to Z. Remember, in the waterproofing business it’s “buyer beware”. Most salesmen get a percentage of the sale and don’t consider it their job to save you money. They charge as much as they can. If they see a problem that can be fixed at low-cost, they won’t mention it, but will only talk about “preventing serious damage” and try to frighten you into signing a big contract.

You can save thousands of dollars and many headaches by learning what is going on first. Often what looks like an expensive and serious problem may not be. Once the problem is explained, solving it is just common sense. I’ve used the knowledge I’ve put in The Home Waterproofers Manual – Home Waterproofing A to Z every day to fix water problems. It will work for you too.

But remember, when dealing with salesmen, in the waterproofing business it’s “buyer beware”. Most get a percentage of the sale and don’t consider it their job to save you money. They charge as much as they can. If they see a problem that can be fixed at low cost, or one that has a simple solution, they won’t mention it, but will only talk about “preventing serious damage” and try to scare you into signing a big contract.