Earthquake Seismic Retrofit DIY Lessons Learned

I walk through my lessons learned from doing my own earthquake seismic retrofit on a 70 year old home next to a fault line. I discuss how URFP plates hold the mudsill into the foundation, how sheathing prevents the cripple wall from being damaged, and how L90 and H10 brackets hold floor joists against the top plates and mudsills. If you're a home owner planning to do this yourself and need permits and inspections - make sure that you get an inspection immediately after installing mudsill anchors and blocking, but before installing the sheathing so the inspector can see your work.

[@nunya9740]

So cleanly and concisely summarized and touched on all they things I’ve been wondering about. Thank you so much for your help! 😊

[@thormatteson7141]

Good work, I like that you mentioned the goal of keeping the floor framing from _sliding_ off the foundation, not _"jumping"_ off. Most earthquake damage is caused by lateral movement.

[@AntonioRonde]

The combination of coding and DIY construction on your channel is quite unique ^^

[@RobertLugg]

It does help. Thanks. How about things like spacing between the cement to mud plate (every 12 ft, etc)

[@VincentStevenson]

The spacing depends on the specifics of your house - like if you have stucco vs wood siding. There’s a prescriptive retrofit plan to follow that says what the spacings are.

[@bao-ngocnguyen1222]

Great video. Can you share the link to where you bought the hardware? Thanks.

[@angelofbliss]

Did you use nails or screws on the wood installed between the cripple studs? The ones fastened to the sill. I’m so interested in reading the documentation for this and get started

[@VincentStevenson]

Screws hold the URFP plates connecting the mud sill to the foundation. Nails hold the sheathing to the studs.