Pasadena is about to be a much safer place to live. The City Council recently passed a new Soft Story ordinance renovation law that would mandate the renovation of older, wood-frame residential buildings that were built between the' 20s and' 70s. Although initially given 5 years to complete the refurbishment of the Soft Story, the Pasadena City Council extended the deadline to 7 years in [...]

Residents of Granada Hills woke up by a 3.6 magnitude earthquake late Tuesday night. The quake struck at 11:41 p.m., with moderate shaking felt throughout the San Fernando Valley and neighboring Los Angeles. Other accounts of quakes have come from residents of Santa Monica, Marina del Rey, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Hollywood Hills, downtown Los Angeles, Santa Clarita, Ventura County and San Gabriel Valley. While [...]

The climate of your place plays a major role in the kind of base your home will have. California is mainly known for its Mediterranean climate, which means that it has warm, hot summers and cooler and rainier winters. Due to these changing conditions, the foundation of a property can suffer some damage as a result. When it comes to damage to the base or [...]

Seismic retrofitting is the only form of reinforcement to ensure that your home and the loved ones living there are safe during a major earthquake. Seismic retrofitting is a procedure that modifies the foundation of your exis Seismic Retrofitting Your Home: For residential properties, seismic retrofitting modifies your existing home construction, making the house adhere to current building codes and safety measures. This is done [...]

First We should look into what a Slab Foundation is: SLAB FOUNDATIONS There is no doubt that the slab foundations have advantages and disadvantages. Even though they may be damaged, they are very common, particularly in warm climates. Property owners in those parts of the county where they freeze for months on end usually opt for a different kind of foundation. That's because concrete slabs [...]

  As we wrap up in 2019, it's important to start setting some actionable goals for the New Year — and if you own a home in Los Angeles, the earthquake preparation should be at the top of your list. There were some big shakers in Southern California in 2019. We had two earthquakes in the range of 6-7 magnitudes and hundreds in the range [...]

The new year was a shaky start for Angelinos! Los Angeles residents woke up by a 4.0 magnitude earthquake at 2:13 a.m. on Thursday. The epicenter of the quake was centered in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 15 miles from Port Hueneme and 60 miles west of downtown Los Angeles. Residents said the quake felt like a quick but powerful jolt –with a shaking sensation from [...]

The Basics of Foundation Repair Throughout recent decades, engineers have learned how to make buildings safer after years of studying what happens to structures during earthquakes. Concrete is a long-lasting option, but concrete tilt-up buildings built in the last century present safety risks. Over time, concrete will break, so it is critical that it be checked regularly to minimize maintenance costs and reduce structural risks [...]

Concrete can last for several decades without much maintenance, which is a key reason why it is chosen as a commercial building material. Regular inspections help to identify problems early in order to avoid costly structural concrete crack repairs. Here are important points to remember about the use of seismic retrofitting for buildings with concrete tilt-up walls and how cracks can be addressed. Retrofitting to [...]

Seismic Retrofit Scope of Work (Typical) Assumptions used in the budget to develop scope of work Measures that would enhance the performance of the building during due diligence and site investigation of the structure. The suggested retrofit steps would include some or all of them, including the following, in order to reduce the risk to building occupants and to mitigate the potential damages that may [...]