Make Your Older Home Earthquake Resistant!

A seismic retrofit is the process of strengthening older buildings in order to make them earthquake resistant.

The motion of  an earthquake is either a horizontal, back and forth motion or a vertical, rise and fall motion.  

Unless the structure is right on top of the epicenter of the earthquake, these motions are only about an inch or two each way.  
 
This motion gets transmitted from the moving ground to any object sitting on that ground.

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A  house is built on concrete foundations and footings.  
 
The mudsill, a wood foundation member (usually a pressure treated 2x4 or 2x6), is resting on the foundation, and other framing members are attached to it. The walls of the house are built upward from the mudsill.

In newer homes, the mudsill is bolted to the foundation.

In older homes, built before the construction codes became stricter, the mudsill was not bolted to the foundation.  It is just sitting on it.
 
In the event of an earthquake, the mudsill can be literally shaken off the concrete foundation and, just like a tower of children’s blocks, the whole structure comes tumbling down.
    
The other problem with older homes is that the main beams lying under the house and which support the floors, are resting on short, wooden beams which are, in turn, resting on concrete supports called “piers”.       

When these homes were built, it was not required that these beams  be bolted to their supports.  Earthquake motion can easily shake these beams off their supports and the house collapses inward. 

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When Rocha Construction does a seismic retrofit, we are bolting the mudsills and the main beams under the house to their supporting members so that earthquake motion will not shake the house off its foundations.

If you own an older home, let us give you a free estimate for a seismic retrofit.

Call Gilbert Rocha, Rocha
Construction, at 310-484-4256.

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