Building owners commonly believe good performance of their building during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake validates a building as being safe to withstand a major earthquake. However, the Loma Prieta earthquake registered a magnitude 6.9 with an epicenter located approximately 60 miles from San Francisco. For comparison, the Great Earthquake of 1906 registered a magnitude of […]
Common Misconception: My Building Survived 1989 Earthquake So I Don’t Need A Retrofit
Posted by admin on January 24, 2014
https://enginious-structures.com/softstoryblog/?p=415
Berkeley passes its own mandatory Soft Story ordinance
On December 3, 2013 City Council adopted Ordinance No. 7,318-N.S. amending Berkeley Municipal Code Chapter 19.39 to require property owners of soft, weak or open front (“SWOF”) buildings with five or more dwelling units to retrofit their buildings within the next five years. Owners have three years to apply for a building permit and two […]
Posted by admin on January 20, 2014
https://enginious-structures.com/softstoryblog/?p=411
New Method of evaluating and strengthening of Soft Story Buildings
A small investment in engineering will potentially save on overall project construction costs.
Posted by admin on January 20, 2014
https://enginious-structures.com/softstoryblog/?p=409
Come visit our table at the Earthquake Retrofit Fair!
SAVE THE DATE!! I will have a table set up at the Earthquake Retrofit Fair and can answer any questions or concerns you may have. In addition to the Enginious Structures booth you will find lender and contractor information. This fair will be a great source of information for your seismic retrofit needs. January […]
Posted by admin on December 13, 2013
https://enginious-structures.com/softstoryblog/?p=402
El Cerrito Now Requires Mandatory Retrofit
Inside the Bay Area reported that El Cerrito has adopted a mandatory retrofit ordinance twenty years after the Loma Prieta earthquake. This program had supporters including an earthquake geologist who expressed that URM’s are a definitive factor on who survives in the event of an earthquake. He also stated that in April a moderate earthquake […]
Posted by admin on November 22, 2013
https://enginious-structures.com/softstoryblog/?p=388
LA To Inspect 29,000 buildings built before 1978.
The Los Angeles Times reported that city housing officials have provided addresses to 29,000 apartment buildings in Los Angeles built before 1978 to city inspectors. City inspectors will have to access which are soft-story and vulnerable to collapse in the event of a major earthquake. This will most likely require building officials to visit to […]
Posted by admin on November 22, 2013
https://enginious-structures.com/softstoryblog/?p=382
Public Meeting Held To Discuss Berkeley Proposed Ordinance
Last month on October 10th, the City of Berkeley co-sponsored with the ASUC (Associated Students of University of California) Office of the External Affairs VP held a public meeting and requested building owners, and all people interested in improving the safety of housing in Berkeley, to come. The meeting was to discuss an ordinance that […]
Posted by admin on November 22, 2013
https://enginious-structures.com/softstoryblog/?p=373
Info Meeting Held With SF Apt Association and the Earthquake Safety Implementation Program
Multifamily building owners gathered at Fort Mason on Oct. 23 to learn more about their financing options to allow them to comply with new city rules for certain buildings with “soft stories.” The event was co-hosted by the San Francisco Apartment Association and the Earthquake Safety Implementation Program as a workshop to learn about public […]
Posted by admin on October 30, 2013
https://enginious-structures.com/softstoryblog/?p=371
SF may have cast too wide a net for Wood Frame Seismic Retrofit Ordinance
It appears that the San Francisco DBI has spread their net so wide for the Wood Frame Seismic Retrofit Ordinance notification that most of the building owners that have gotten in touch me, so far, have buildings that shouldn’t have been on this list. Out of the first 10 screening reports we’ve done, only one […]
Posted by admin on October 25, 2013
https://enginious-structures.com/softstoryblog/?p=368
San Francisco Soft Story Screening Forms Are Being Mailed This Week
A licensed architect or civil or structural engineer would need to visit the building and complete your screening form as it requires a better understanding of ordinance, scope, code language, and construction type, than is typically possessed by a building owner or a contractor.
Enginious Structures, Inc. can assist you in the screening of your building and completing the form for you. This will clarify whether or not you are exempt from any further action. The form requires a design professional to answer the following questions.
• Is the building wood-frame construction?
• Was the building permitted prior to January 1, 1978?
• Is the building three or more stories, or two stories over a basement or under floor area that extends above the grade? (Please, keep in mind that the definition of “stories” that the Department of Building Inspection utilizes may not be what you are familiar with.)
• Does the building contain five or more dwelling units?
If we find that the answer is yes to any of the department questions but you still believe your building is exempt you can file the optional evaluation form as discussed above. We can assist you in this process as well.
Our fee for the site visit and filling out the screening form is $250- $500 depending on the building size. However, if the building needs further evaluation and you hire us to do this evaluation and design a retrofit if necessary we will deduct the evaluation cost from our design fee; so the cost of the screening is essentially zero.
Posted by admin on September 13, 2013
https://enginious-structures.com/softstoryblog/?p=351