In this post, you’ll find the top questions we frequently get from our new clients about the Soft Story Retrofit Program. What is a Soft Story building? It’s a structure with a weaker first level. This type of building is useless to carry the weight of the floors above during particularly strong seismic shifts, or as we commonly call them, earthquakes. The first story generally [...]

The steps involved in getting your building retrofitted can be quite overwhelming for many property owners in Los Angeles. Here’s a short guide to help you understand everything you need to know about the Soft Story retrofit. There are some areas in California that are more prone to lateral forces created by an earthquake; specifically, certain kinds of constructions that are more prone to earthquake [...]

Contrary to what many people believe, a Soft Story retrofit job is more specific than a general seismic risk assessment. The retrofit evaluation addresses a floor of a building that’s considerably weaker than the other floors. What is “Soft Story”? The term refers to one story of a building which is particularly more flexible or fragile in lateral load resistance than the foundation below it [...]

With the new Soft Story Ordinance, planning has become a crucial element for property owners in the Los Angeles area. If you are a building owner for more than a year or two, the mandatory Soft Story retrofit program is probably not the first regulation you need to abide by. This ordinance makes sure that buildings become more resilient to earthquakes and building residents stay [...]

Property owners in Los Angeles and several other tiers 1 and 2 municipalities are often confused about the process involved in Soft Story retrofit, also commonly referred to as seismic retrofit. Let us break it down for you. In areas where seismic activity is a concern, a few types of construction are more high-risk than others. Buildings that are “Soft Story” must fortify in order [...]

Soft Story buildings are prone to earthquakes and could result in substantial loss of lives, profits, and investments. Therefore, Soft Story retrofitting is crucial. In case of strong sideways motion during an earthquake, the weak supports in the “soft” levels could easily collapse. This can lead the upper stories to fall onto the lower ones. In 1994, the same kind of collapse was induced by [...]

If you are wondering how long a Soft Story retrofitting process take, this on-point, no-fluff guide is for you. First of all, the duration of the process depends on the existing way in which the LA building and safety regulations apply to the building structure. It also depends on how talented and experienced your licensed retrofitting architect is. If you are a building owner in [...]