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Earthquake Insurance. Does it make sense?

I have always wanted to buy an earthquake insurance for my house in Oakland Hills.  Being so close to the major seismic faults, I know that the questions is not if but when will we have a Big One.  I have priced Earthquake insurance before and decided to retrofit the building instead, as the cost of the annual premium was comparable to the cost of retrofit.  However, at the time of my house insurance renewal I received a quote for the Earthquake insurance policy in addition to the regular house insurance and was surprised to see that it was significantly lower than before.  After some additional research and few quotes from other companies, I was able to find a policy that made sense and didn’t break the bank.

If you own a home, an apartment or commercial building, San Francisco-based insurance consumer rights organization United Policyholders (“UP”) says now is the time to reconsider whether earthquake insurance is right for you.  Check out the following article for more information:  http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/united-policyholders-urges-homeowners-to,1235604.shtml.

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by on April 18, 2010  •  Permalink
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Posted by admin on April 18, 2010

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The Oakland Soft-Story Ordinance Revisited

Last night I had the opportunity to attend the City of Oakland’s first training session for soft-story evaluators. It really helped to clarify the City’s intent in creating two levels of screening.

The purpose of the Level 1 Screening form is really to quickly and cost-effectively eliminate buildings from the inventory which are not soft-story. Level 2 evaluations will be required for all buildings determined to be soft-story buildings or suspected soft story buildings with complex plan layouts and/or buildings with the drop in ground elevation of more than 6 feet over the width or length of a building.

Additionally, the city officials encourage owners to complete the Level 2 evaluation immediately if their evaluator believes that the building will be subject to the Level 2 requirement. In this respect, it will be advantageous to hire a structural engineer to look at your building – a structural engineer will be able to let you know if you should submit a Level 2 evaluation in addition to the Level 1 screening form. There is no need for a Level 1 screening if an Engineered report is submitted instead.  If the owner needs more time to have an engineered report prepared, a truncated version of a Level 1 screening can be submitted indicating that a level 2 evaluation is in the works.  For such an abbreviated report, the filing fee will be waived.

The list of buildings on the soft-story inventory will not be available to the public until all of the notifications have been sent out. However, if you’re interested in finding out if your building is on the inventory, you can contact the City of Oakland building department. Finally, if you are interested having an engineer look at your building, please give us a call or email me at sasha at enginious-structures.com.  The first consultation is free.

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by on March 30, 2010  •  Permalink
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Posted by admin on March 30, 2010

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San Francisco Soft-Story Ordinance

On March 16, 2010, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a voluntary soft-story retrofit program, which will take effect on April 19, 2010. This program benefits soft-story building owners who voluntary retrofit their buildings by:

  • Waiving building department plan review fees, which can amount to hundreds or even thousands of dollars per project.
  • Expediting the processing, reviewing and approval of building permits for soft-story retrofit projects.
  • Exempting retrofitted buildings from any future mandatory retrofitting legislation for the next 15 years.

Additionally, at the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute’s annual meeting on Friday, February 5, 2010, Newsom also announced that he is creating legislation for a mandatory retrofitting program, which will also include a financing package to mitigate retrofit costs for soft-story building owners. Newsom hopes that this legislation will be on next November’s ballot for voter approval of certain elements.

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by on March 25, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in City of San Francisco, Earthquake Strengthening, Seismic Analysis, Soft-Story Buildings
Posted by admin on March 25, 2010

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City of Oakland Soft-Story Ordinance

After attending the City of Oakland’s presentation at the RHANAC Expo, as well as a presentation on seismic ordinances at the PCLC Apartment Market Symposium last Wednesday, I felt it would be beneficial to explain the City of Oakland’s Soft-Story Ordinance. The City has just begun sending out the first notifications, so I expect that this topic will only garner additional attention and importance in the coming weeks.

In August of 2009, the City of Oakland passed its Soft-Story Seismic Screening Program, applies only to buildings constructed before 1991 with at least 5 residential units, two or more stories, and parking or commercial space on the ground floor. This program does not require building owners to complete seismic retrofits.

Owners of such buildings must hire a licensed civil or structural engineer, a licensed B contractor, or certified building or home inspector to complete a Level 1 screening form within 6 months of notification. This Level 1 screening form requires detailed information about the building, including a to scale plan of the ground floor showing walls and openings and their dimensions.

A Level 2 Evaluation report may be required if the Level 1 Screening confirms a soft-story building  condition or if the building site is on a significant ground slope (rise of the ground adjacent to any side of the ground floor is 6 feet or more). The Level 2 Evaluation Report is a full engineering investigation and analysis similar to what is required by the cities of Berkeley or Alameda which must be prepared by a licensed Structural Engineer or Architect. This report must also be provided to the building’s occupants and future tenants.

In order to streamline the screening process, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) is hosting training sessions for potential Level 1 building screeners. Building owners should make sure to hire a screener who has completed this training in order to assure that their report will meet Oakland’s ordinance requirements.  While the owner may feel inclined to hire a less expensive contractor or an inspector to perform this screening, I would recommend hiring an experienced engineer or architect. An experienced seismic design professional will be able to advise you as to whether your building is likely to be classified as a Soft-Story building, and an  engineer’s familiarity with your building will pay off if a Level 2 report needs to be prepared.

There is a $78.60 fee for filing a Level 1 Screening or Level 2 report. According to the City of Oakland, failure to submit a screening or evaluation report will subject the building owner to a $5000 penalty.

More information about the City of Oakland Soft-Story Ordinance is available on our website at www.enginious-structures.com/pages/softoakland.html, or at the Oakland Building Department.

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by on March 22, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in City of Oakland, Earthquake Strengthening, Seismic Analysis, Soft-Story Buildings
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RHANAC Real Estate Investor’s Expo and Trade Show

I wanted to extend you an invitation to visit the Rental Housing Association of Northern Alameda County Real Estate Investor’s Expo and Trade Show this Saturday, March 13th in Oakland.

Enginious Structures will be one of the exhibitors at this event promoting public education regarding soft-story buildings and the benefits of seismic retrofitting. The expo and trade show are free to attend, and there will be several free seminars covering topics such as leasing strategies, foreclosures, and rental economic forecasts. The expo runs from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm this Saturday, March 13, at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 4700 Lincoln Avenue, Oakland, CA 94602. For more information about the expo, please visit http://rhanac.org/index.pl/events.

Please stop by our booth to learn about soft-story buildings, ordinances, and retrofit methods. We’ll be happy answer any specific questions you might have.

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by on March 10, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in Earthquake Strengthening, Soft-Story Buildings, Uncategorized
Posted by admin on March 10, 2010

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Why Retrofit?

Although current soft-story ordinances do not require a mandatory retrofit of your building, you must retrofit your building to have it removed from the soft-story inventory list.  To encourage owners to complete voluntary retrofits, the City of Alameda will waive all plan review and inspection fees for soft-story retrofit projects if they are submitted within 18 months of notification. The probability of an earthquake occurring in the Bay Area within the next 30 years is, in some estimates, almost guaranteed. While completing an engineering analysis for your building is an important first step, only a retrofit can make your building safer.

Some soft-story ordinances require that the engineering report includes strengthening all walls of the weak floor, regardless of the number of or orientation of openings. Though this requirement is beneficial to building strength, it greatly increases retrofit costs, and has deterred building owners from completing much needed soft-story building retrofits especially in building with ground floor apartment units.

However, by retrofitting only the weak elevations of your building before the engineering report is due (within 18 months of notification), your structural engineer, while preparing the engineering report, can tell the City that your building is not a soft-story building and should not be included in the inventory of soft-story buildings, excluding it from the ordinance requirements. This retrofit method will help protect your building at a lower cost, and preclude you from “excessive” ordinance requirements.

Aside from these incentives, there are many reasons why you should retrofit your soft-story building now:

  • Preventative protection. Although the cost of a retrofit may seem daunting in today’s economy, spending the money now to protect your building will save you money in the long run. According to the City of San Francisco Community Action Plan for Seismic Safety (CAPSS), the direct cost of repair of a soft-story building after an earthquake is six times the cost of retrofitting. This figure does not incorporate business interruption costs, legal costs, and lost rental income of an uninhabitable building, further increasing the benefits of seismic strengthening.
  • Cheaper construction costs. Due to the general slowdown in construction industry, labor and material rates are significantly lower today than a few years ago. As the economy picks up, labor and material construction prices will increase. By completing your retrofit now, you can take advantage of the competitive construction industry, and reap the same structural benefits.
  • Competitive advantage. The soft-story ordinance requires that all existing and prospective tenants and buyers are notified that a building is a soft-story building, which can affect rental and resale values. By retrofitting your building now, your building will be removed from the City’s inventory, and you will be exempt from future retrofit ordinance requirements.
  • Mandatory retrofits are inevitable. Bay Area cities will eventually require mandatory seismic upgrades for soft-story buildings.  The risk of building collapse and loss of life is too great and the municipalities and elected officials are concerned about hundreds of red tagged buildings and thousands of homeless people on the streets of their cities. They are also worried that in case if anything happens, they’ll be held responsible. Although it may take several years to pass the required legislation, mandatory retrofit ordinances are inevitable. By retrofitting now, you will be ahead of the game, and protecting your property and tenants.

Deciding to retrofit is a difficult decision for a building owner to make. The costs of retrofitting are immediate and readily apparent, while most of the benefits of retrofitting are not evident until after an earthquake strikes. Overall, however, the benefits of retrofitting greatly outweigh the costs. To find out how much a retrofit of your building might cost, ask a structural engineer to provide you with an estimate.

In our next posts, we’ll talk about specific retrofit methods, and how much a typical retrofit might actually cost to complete.

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by on March 1, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in City of Alameda, City of Berkeley, City of Oakland, City of San Francisco, Earthquake Strengthening, Seismic Analysis, Soft-Story Buildings
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Posted by admin on March 1, 2010

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Alameda Soft-Story Ordinance Requirements

If you believe that your building is a soft-story building, it may be a good idea to have a licensed engineer take a look at your building before you receive a notification from the city, as the time line for appeals is tight, and requires engineering analysis. Your engineer should be able to tell you if your building is definitely subject to the ordinance, or if it may be worthwhile to file an appeal.

If you receive a notification that your building is on the soft-story inventory, you will need to take the following action:

  • Within 60 days of notification building owners must install an earthquake-actuated gas shutoff valve in their building.
  • Building owners will have 60 days from the date of service to file an appeal with the Building Official to remove their building from the inventory of soft-story buildings. The documentation for the appeal will likely require preliminary engineering analysis using the the International Existing Building Code. If you think your building might be erroneously included on the inventory of soft-story buildings, your engineer can help prepare the necessary documentation to file for the appeal.
  • If the appeal is denied, building owners have 10 days to appeal the decision of the Building Official to the Housing and Building Code Hearing and Appeals Board. Enginious Structures is available to provide you the engineering support as required for this hearing.
  • Within 18 months of notification, building owners must notify all tenants in writing that the building is included on the soft-story inventory list, and mail a copy of each tenant notification with proof of service to the Planning and Building Department of the City of Alameda. Building owners must also post a warning sign within five feet of each main entrance warning occupants and visitors that the building is a soft-story building.
  • Within 18 months of notification, building owners must submit a detailed seismic engineering evaluation report prepared by a qualified California licensed structural engineer which determines the presence of the soft-story condition and analyzes the structural ability of the building to resist the seismic effects of an earthquake.
  • If the report is submitted within 3 months of notification, the City of Alameda will waive 100% of the report review fees. Within 6 months of notification, 75% of fees will be waived. Within 9 months of notification, 50% of fees will be waived, and within 12 months of notification, 25% of fees will be waived. The amount of the report review fees is not known at this time.
  • The deadline for the submittal of the report is accelerated if the building undergoes a repair or addition valued at more than $100,000, the use of the building changes, or if the building is deemed to be unsafe. You must then submit a seismic engineering report at that time.
This information is also available on our website’s Soft-Story Alameda page , along with information regarding the requirements of other Bay Area soft-story ordinances.

How much will the engineering report cost?

The cost of an engineering report will vary depending on the size of the building, the number of units, stories, and areas where repair may be required. Costs also depend on whether existing or as-built drawings are available, and specific municipal report requirements.

Of the 15 reports we completed for the City of Berkeley’s soft-story ordinance, fees ranged from $1250 per unit for an engineering report and as-built drawings for a small two-story building, to $500 per unit for a report, soft story seismic upgrade drawings and calculations for a 51,000 square foot, three-story building with both residential units and commercial spaces on the ground floor. However, as costs per building can vary greatly, have us prepare a free estimate for your building.

In our next post, we’ll talk about the benefits of completing a seismic retrofit voluntarily, and typical construction costs.

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by on February 24, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in City of Alameda, Seismic Analysis, Soft-Story Buildings, Uncategorized
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The City of Alameda Soft-Story Ordinance

Realizing that soft-story buildings could affect the city of Alameda, Alameda building officials conducted a walk-through of the city and determined approximately 300 buildings as possible soft-story buildings. To address this hazard, in March of 2009 Alameda passed its soft-story ordinance, using the city of Berkeley’s soft-story ordinance as a model. The ordinance aims to reduce property damage and loss of human life by identifying the most hazardous soft-story buildings and requiring a seismic evaluation of the property. Although retrofit of the building is not currently required, voluntary retrofit is strongly encouraged. In the future, Alameda will most likely mandate retrofit for soft-story buildings. For specific ordinance requirements, please see our website at www.enginious-structures.com/softalameda.html

In its initial identification of the approximately 300 soft-story buildings on its inventory, the City of Alameda conducted a visual examination of each property. Although it is not public information exactly what criteria was used, the City most likely qualified buildings as soft-story buildings by the size and number of large openings on the ground floor. This means that although your building may be on the Alameda inventory of soft-story buildings, there is a definite possibility that it is not actually a soft-story structure.

To have the most impact on soft-story building hazards, the City of Alameda is planning to send out the first soft-story notifications to the fifty buildings with the most units within the next few months. Smaller buildings will receive notification in subsequent mailings.

The city of Alameda has also established a fund to assist low-income building owners with report and retrofit costs. Building owners should receive notification regarding this fund within the next few months, before actual notification of the soft-story ordinance is received.

How do I know if my building is subject to this ordinance?

For buildings to be subject to the Alameda Soft-Story Ordinance and included on the inventory of soft-story buildings , the building should be of wood framed construction, with at least 5 residential units, and built before December 17, 1985. Also, the building should have a visible soft story “signature” vulnerability at the ground floor, such as tucked-under parking, garages or an open commercial storefront.  Although the inventory of these buildings is not currently available to the public, our firm has been able to obtain a list of all of the multi-story residential buildings with 5 units or more building in Alameda that were built before 1985, and which may be subject to the ordinance.  The list is comprised of approximately 1300 buildings. We learned that approximately 5% of these buildings are apartment buildings, motels, and hotels, while the remainder of these building are condominiums.  If this data can be interpolated to the inventory collected by the city of Alameda, the majority of the affected buildings are condos.

In our next post, we’ll talk about the specific requirements of the Alameda Soft-Story Ordinance, and what steps you can take before you receive your building notification to ensure your building safety.

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by on February 17, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in City of Alameda, Seismic Analysis, Soft-Story Buildings
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Posted by admin on February 17, 2010

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Soft-Story Buildings: An Overview

What is a soft-story building?

The term “soft-story building” describes a building with a level or story that is significantly more flexible than the stories above it, which can be hazardous in the event of an earthquake. In multi-unit wood-frame buildings, weakness at the ground level stems from large openings in perimeter walls or insufficient interior partition walls. Examples of perimeter openings include garage doors, tucked-under parking or large windows. During a strong earthquake, the ground level walls of a soft-story building are unable to support the stiff and heavy mass of the stories above as they move back and forth. These ground level walls can shift sideways until the building collapses, crushing the ground floor.

Past earthquakes have resulted in loss of human life and serious injuries due to the damage caused by soft-story buildings. For example, in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, 16 people were killed and 34,000 housing units were left uninhabitable by soft-story collapses, while in 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake 7 lives were lost and 7,000 housing units were rendered uninhabitable due to soft-story building issues.

How can I tell if my building is a soft-story building?

It is not possible to know for certain that a building is a soft-story building simply by looking at it from the street. Although large openings at the ground level are a strong indicator that a building may have a soft-story, many characteristics affect a building’s response to an earthquake, including the contribution of interior partitions, strength of walls and previous retrofits completed. Only a building-specific analysis conducted by an engineer can determine if a particular building is a soft-story building.

Using the figure below, an initial visual inspection can estimate the degree of openness of the particular exterior wall.  If at any exterior wall,  solid section of the wall at the ground floor are less than 80% of the the solid walls above, then it is likely that a soft story condition exists.  However, the degree of openness criteria is not the only indicator of whether a building is “safe” or “unsafe” – rather, the criteria reflects a decision by the city of Alameda to put those buildings with the largest openings on a suspect list of buildings required to complete an Engineering Report.

Soft-Story Building Diagram

What is being done to prevent soft-story building damage?

Bay Area cities such as Berkeley and Fremont have already implemented their own soft-story ordinances to prevent damage in event of an earthquake.  Oakland and Alameda have passed soft story ordinances but have not yet began notifying the owners, while San Francisco, San Leandro and others are currently developing soft-story ordinances to be implemented in the next few years.

In the next few posts, we’ll talk about what Alameda is specifically doing to mitigate soft-story building damage.

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by on February 8, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in City of Alameda, City of Berkeley, City of Oakland, City of San Francisco, Seismic Analysis, Soft-Story Buildings
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Posted by admin on February 8, 2010

https://enginious-structures.com/softstoryblog/?p=8

Greetings

Hi, my name is Alexander (Sasha) Itsekson.  I am a California-licensed Structural Engineer at RDH Building Science Inc. I specialize in structural engineering including seismic analysis and retrofits, specifically “soft-story buildings”. For more information about me or RDH, please visit our website at rdh.com

I have started this blog to address the lack of reader-friendly information for building owners, real estate professionals, and property managers regarding soft-story buildings in the Bay Area. If you are unfamiliar with the way blogs are structured, the latest posts are always at the top of the page.  However, I made this post “sticky” to stay on top as an introduction to the blog.

I would appreciate any feedback or comments on my postings. If you have any questions regarding this information, please call me at 510 788 8923 or email me at sitsekson@rdh.com.

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by on February 8, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in Miscellaneous
Posted by admin on February 8, 2010

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