| Earthquake Retrofit Designs |
For more information on retrofitting, see the
Earthquake Retrofits page.
Single-family homes:
Any of the following services, as desired by Client to give a range of retrofit
options from streamlined approach intended to prevent major damage to extensive designs
intended to protect finishes from cosmetic damage.
- Site evaluations for new retrofits
- Previous retrofit evaluations
- Review of original construction drawings to identify potential concerns
- Retrofit designs
- Construction observation
Condominiums and Townhouses:
Note: For more information on the retrofit design sequence for condominiums,
see Seismic Retrofit Engineering Sequence.
For association-owned buildings, engineering services will include site
investigation, outside professional peer-review and constructablity review of
design, and construction observation in addition to design work.
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| Soft-Story and Weak-Story Screening |
Screening of apartment buildings to meet local requirements for
earthquake hazard identification.
Apartment buildings with "tuck-under" parking performed very poorly in the 1994 Northridge
earthquake. Several Bay Area cities have recently enacted, or are considering enacting,
ordinances that require multi-story apartment buildings to be reviewed for earthquake safety.
Typically buildings that are single story or have a small number of units do NOT need to be
reviewed at this time. (The number of units depends on the individual city.)
For more information on "soft-story" buildings, the hazards they pose, and
guidelines on their evaluation, see "
Soft-Story Residential Building in Earthquakes" at the Association of Bay Area Governments' website.
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| Structural Evaluations |
- Real estate transfers
- Fire, wind, earthquake or other disaster damage
- Foundation settlement
- Termite or dry-rot damage (with respect to structural condition only)
- Determine causes of mysterious structural issues due to snow and ice action,
settlement, wood shrinkage, hidden failures of structural elements, etc.
- Property insurance claims
- Engineering reports for above as needed
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| Forensic Engineering |
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Failure analysis of structures for insurance and other claims, specializing in wood-framed
construction.
- Investigate existing conditions
- Review existing construction documents
- Prepare engineering reports
- Expert testimony
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| Professional Licenses |
| Licensed in the State of California:
Structural Engineer License # S 4097
Civil Engineer License # C 50661 |
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| Insurance Coverage |
| General Business Liability Coverage: $1,000,000 |
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| Seismic Retrofit Code Development Experience
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| Currently working with other volunteer engineers and contractors and San
Francisco Bay Area cities to update and improve
residential earthquake retrofit standards. This effort will result in a
comprehensive, user-friendly set of details that will make earthquake
retrofitting much more understandable, uniform, and effective.
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| Design & Construction Experience |
Design Experience--20 years, including:
Commercial:
- Motel buildings up to three stories,
including structural steel spans over indoor swimming pool,
pre-cast concrete wall and floor system over conference area,
and concrete block basement flood-walls
- Flood-damage repairs to building undercut 18 feet back under foundation
- Restaurant remodel to stabilize stone fireplace & chimney,
slate wall veneer & stone walls
- Structural evaluations & investigations
- Earthquake retrofit designs for unreinforced masonry buildings and
under-reinforced concrete buildings
Residential:
- Wood-frame
- Insulating Concrete Forms (ICFs)
- Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs)
- Log homes (both kit & site-cut logs)
- Straw bale (both load bearing and infill for post-and-beam)
- Light-guage steel-frame
- Structural evaluations prior to purchase,
to review settlement, fire, or termite damage
- Tilt-up concrete basement with structural steel
and composite metal/concrete floor and wood-framed walls above
Institutional & Municipal:
- Churches (new, additions, and repairs)
- Schools (remodels only, we can't afford new ones...)
- Libraries
- Parks & Rec buildings
- Public meeting & community buildings
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Construction Experience:
Remodeling and new construction beginning at age 16;
this is "in-the-trenches," real work experience, currently
implementing some of the design work outlined above, including:
- Tilt-up concrete retaining wall
- Tilt-up concrete basement walls
- Structural steel installation
- Composite concrete/steel floor system
- A dozen or so kitchen and bathroom remodels
- Winding outdoor stairs (featured in Fine Homebuilding #51)
- All phases of construction from concrete footings to skylights
and roofing, including plumbing, electrical, framing, insulating, drywall, tiling,
masonry, trim carpentry, structured wiring, flooring installation, glazing, etc.
In short: extensive experience and knowledge of the tools and systems that
contractors use every day; this results in more efficient, constructable, and
economical designs to meet current building code requirements.
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