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Tag: Earthquake Retrofit

  • Upgrading Your Structural Earthquake Damage Protection

    Upgrading Your Structural Earthquake Damage Protection

    As beautiful as the Southern California scenery looks above ground, there is an ugly force at work beneath the surface that can leave your home with thousands of dollars of damage within minutes. Earthquakes are a common occurrence on the Western coast of the US and are typically small events. You may already have preventative measures in place to minimize damage, but every year there is new knowledge gained about protecting structures. It is time to see about upgrading to a better level of protection.

    What is retrofitting?

    Retrofitting buildings for earthquake damage protection is the act of adding needed features to the structure and foundation to boost support and stability. Knowledgeable contractors can inspect the building and recommend the best methods for attaching the protective support each structure needs to avoid catastrophic damage.

    What can be done to make a building stronger?

    The methods employed to strengthen your building depend on the age, type of materials, and whether you already have existing added support. Even if you have already had previous retrofitting, you can take advantage of newer technologies and methods that will increase your safety and buildings stability during an earthquake. Common methods of retrofitting include

    • Bracing cripple walls
    • Foundation hold down brackets
    • Bolting the foundation
    • Adding angle-iron struts and bolting to the foundation

    A simple inspection of your Orange, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, or Riverside County structure will help the retrofit experts understand what you need for optimal protection.

    Can retrofitting make buildings earthquake damage proof?

    Unfortunately, there is no way to make a building utterly impervious to at least minor damage from a severe earthquake. On a positive note, most earthquakes in the Los Angeles and surrounding County areas are mild. It means that the extra support you add to your structure will make a difference in the level of damage experienced with a majority of localized earthquake activity.

    Choose an Experienced California Retrofitting Contractor

    It is wise to choose a contractor in the local Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside County area to complete all of your retrofitting work. Picking someone from out of state can present a massive problem if you need additional work done, or there is a problem. Tri Span has local experience and a proven track-record for top quality work.

    [su_note note_color=”#f1f1f1″]Contact us at Tri Span and make an appointment with our experts to inspect your building and begin adding the support it needs to prevent catastrophic damage today! We can handle any size of retrofitting you need in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside Counties and the entire Southern California region.[/su_note]

  • Why Earthquake Retrofitting is Important in Southern California

    Why Earthquake Retrofitting is Important in Southern California

    A 2014 U.S. Geological Survey report advises that the risk of earthquakes in counties including Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino appears to be less these days for smaller earthquakes but higher for the big temblors over 7 magnitudes.

    [su_note note_color=”#f1f1f1″]The USGS also reports risk estimates for loss from earthquakes in each county in the country, and over 60 percent of losses from earthquakes happen in California. Within California, Los Angeles County is at the top of the list for reported loss, coming in with 30.6 percent of total earthquake losses in the State with Santa Clara County coming in second at 8.9 percent of the total.[/su_note]

    Another USGS report from May of last year finds an average of one 7-plus magnitude quake every 100 years in the Southern California region of the San Andreas Fault line. The infamous Long Beach earthquake of 1933 was only a 6.8 magnitude, so, when it comes to earthquakes in the LA area, the worst is yet to come.

    This is why many older buildings in Southern California are still in need of earthquake retrofitting.

    Southern California Earthquake Retrofitting

    There are several important methods used for strengthening a building against damage from earthquakes. The most important considerations are in foundation design and construction, strong attachment of the building onto the foundation, and building construction which resists the powerful lateral forces generated by an earthquake.

    Foundations of older buildings lack steel reinforcement, making them vulnerable to damage during earthquakes. In other situations, the foundation is not of adequate thickness or depth. It is often possible to retrofit reinforced concrete foundation beams under or around older building foundations like these or to replace the foundation entirely with the building in place.

    In new constructions, the building is attached to the foundation with steel bolts set in place when the concrete foundation is poured. In older buildings, foundation bolt was not used at all, but it is often fairly straightforward to retrofit bolts into place, securing the building to the foundation.

    [su_note note_color=”#f1f1f1″]Lateral movement happens when an earthquake jolt violently shakes the building side to side. Walls directly above the foundation are most vulnerable and can be reinforced with the addition of plywood panels nailed every four or five inches to provide lateral resistance during an earthquake.[/su_note]

    If you would like more information about earthquake retrofitting your Southern California building, contact Tri Span Inc. for a consultation.