October Newsletter- "seismic retrofits" vs seismic retrofits

It’s the end of October, we’ve been having some beautiful fall colors, and we’re seeing some early season snow in the mountains.  I was able to get out once to find some chanterelles for my seasonal ravioli stuffed with chanterelles, walnuts and parmesan cheese.  Both the Beavers and the Ducks are having a good football season, it’ll make for a competitive Civil War game this year, whichever side you’re on.   

With the leaves changing colors and getting knocked down with the rains & wind, it’s wise to make sure they’re not piling up next to your home or you’ll introduce dry rot & mold into your home.  Occasionally check if wind has blown leaves or other debris up against your home and remove it as soon as possible.  This will help prevent dry rot and mold, and just a reminder on gutters, stay on top of keeping the gutters clear & draining properly to avoid foundation issues.  I’ve seen plenty of home gutters overflowing while touring around this month & some damage that has gone along with consistent neglect. 

Over the years I’ve had plenty of conversations about the potential of a large earthquake or seismic event with people asking my thoughts.   My answer was, “I’d rather live here over a place where there’s tornadoes.  You can design for an earthquake, tornadoes you can’t.”    Then I’d talk up wood construction as an ideal material to build with in this part of the world as wood pound for pound it’s stronger than steel or concrete.  In an earthquake, the mass of the building & its height reflects of how much force the building will experience.   I’d also sprinkle a few caveats in there as well that geometry of the building makes a difference, the number of openings in exterior walls in relation to remaining walls plays a part, and whether the home is attached to the foundation.   Homes started to be attached to the foundations in the 1960s, but really didn’t get to proper attachment to the foundation till the 1980s with the more modern building codes.   If you have an older home, it’s a good idea to have it seismically retrofitted. 

Now there are “seismic retrofits” and there are seismic retrofits.  Confused?  What’s the difference?  Well, “seismic retrofits” are where you have a contractor just wing it and do what he thinks is best to earthquake proof your home.  Will it work?  Without seeing it or running an analysis of the home, it’s hard to say.  I’ve seen some proposals that look like a whole lot of work, but really don’t do much to help the home.  Then there’s been others that work for some areas of the home, but don’t work for other areas.   A real seismic retrofit is where you’ve had a structural engineer run the calculations on your home.  They’ll determine what the existing capacity of the home is on how it resist the forces of an earthquake, how these loads transfer through the structure & then do a design to retrofit the areas that are lacking capacity.   To the laymen it’s really hard to tell the difference, and the only way to know is to ask the question:  “Is or has the design done by a professional engineer?”

Wondering why companies are allowed to advertise and sell the service of “seismically retrofitting” when there’s a fair chance that the home isn’t seismically retrofitted when they’re done?  Well, there’s a provision in the building code that says if you’re voluntarily upgrading your building then the existing conditions don’t need to be brought up to the current code standard or require engineering.  This provision was more intended for a make your best effort within the building owner’s budget, but it has allowed for some companies to operate in this grey area of the code to provide “seismic retrofits” without structural engineering.  Including some bigger names that you’ve most likely heard on the radio.  It looks official as the work gets permitted and inspected by the city or county building departments, but the retrofit may not work.  I’ve felt for years that these companies are doing a huge disservice to the public as they’re advertising and providing a service that quite possibly doesn’t work.  It’s a general waste of material/resources & money. 

For most homeowners, the home is their biggest financial asset, so getting a seismic retrofit is a huge way to protect it & the precursor to getting a home insured to protect it.  So, what happens when there’s a big event and all the homes that the insurers thought are seismically retrofitted were actually “seismically retrofitted”?  My concern is if there’s widespread damage and the cost of the damage is larger than the insurance companies fund, what will happen?  More front and center though, no one wants to get displaced out of their home because it’s not structurally sound to live in. 

So, if you’ve had a seismic retrofit done, you’re buying an older home with a seismic retrofit, you’re getting bids from someone to do a seismic retrofit, it’s worth the easy question of, “Is or has the design done by a professional engineer?”  It’s something that I’ll always ask for a client purchasing on older homes with a retrofit & I’ll always ask to see the calculations just to review the design.  If your home was seismically retrofitted without an engineer involved, I’d call one up and pay them to review what was done for peace of mind & talk to you about any short comings. 

Apologies if this news email scared you all this month, it is a bit in the spirit of Halloween.  On a positive reminder watch out for those trick or treaters running around on Tuesday, a lot of them forget to look both ways crossing the streets in their jubilee to get candy.  Till next month!  Enjoy Halloween & enjoy the beautiful weekend!!