| Industry Associations
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APA--The Engineered Wood Association
Formerly called "The American Plywood Association",
this organization did much of the early research on shear walls and continues to perform
tests and research. A wealth of information, much of it available for free download as PDF's.
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American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA)
This organization publishes the "National Design Specification for Wood Construction",
which most model codes adopt for their chapter on wood construction.
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American Wood Council
A sister (or maybe daughter) organization of the AF&PA.
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| Research Organizations
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Applied Technology Council
Geared more toward high-rise and commercial construction, but they do have an
Inspection Checklist for wood-framed shear walls (make sure you have
plenty of yellow ink before you print it)
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Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
Sells the video "Resisting the Forces of Earthquakes"
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| Government Agencies
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Association of Bay Area Governments (San Francisco area)
Lots of good information on earthquake preparedness and strengthening
of existing buildings.
Slide show of shear walls--note that some of the figures show shear wall installations
that do not reflect best engineering practices. Some good images of earthquake damage.
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United States Geological Survey
These are the people who tell you where and how big an earthquake was, for almost
any earthquake in the world
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California Department of Geology
Information on California earthquake faults and more
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| Other Organizations
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Earthquake Advisor.com
A general interest site related to earthquakes, with information and links on
earthquake insurance, retrofits, emergency supplies, contractor referrals, and more
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International Code Coucil
In addition to publishing the International Code series, they also offer many other
publications (but not free shipping!) and links to Evaluation Reports for thousands of
building products
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McVicker Associates
A structural engineer's website with lots of information on wood-frame construction.
Also a section on shear walls.
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Structuralist.net
An ongoing project by a dedicated engineer "providing education of professionals
and the public to improve design and construction quality"
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CCL Construction Consultants
Construction defect avoidance and how to document construction quality
to protect yourself in case of a lawsuit. (The best way to protect yourself is
to read the
Shear Wall Construction Guide!)
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| Seismic Retrofit Specialists
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Bay Area Retrofit
An expert in the field of earthquake retrofits tells it like it is. All seismic
retrofits are not equal! In fact many installations will be completely ineffective.
Find out why at this information-packed site. This guy could write a book on
retrofit shear walls and related work.
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