Earthquake Brace & Bolt..

After filing, winning the EBB Lottery, a $3K award, we did find a contractor, and they are here today adding the ~150 plates between baseplates and foundation, so it doesn’t slide off if there were an earthquake, this is besides the original foundation bolting… Began @ 8:30 AM, last word is maybe a half day tomorrow to finish up, but for now, at almost 3 PM they are still down and under, 2 guys, driving screws all over the place…

Bid was $4.8K, they do all the paperwork, permit, photos before, after, also verify smoke detectors, water heater double bracing as required by the FEMA grant…

Then the discussion with the insurance company, price cut, etc…

Home maintenance, protection, part of the game…

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Bid was $4.8K, they do all the paperwork, permit, photos before, after, also verify smoke detectors, water heater double bracing as required by the FEMA grant… – wecoguy

That seems like a great price! I hope you never find out how effective it all is. :slight_smile:

Rob
Former RB and BL Home Fool, Supernova Portfolio Contributor & Maintenance Fool
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

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The other bids were interesting, first fellow was fine, until he looked under, saw all the new dieting, and declined to bid, ooops… 2nd bidder, a lady estimator, had no problem, was going to be the winner, but the final folks were $400 less, and a larger company, better organized, an actual construction & pest control company… Winner… Sad to call, tell the 2nd place lady, but…

Done for today, be back for the finish tomorrow…

All the physical work was done by Wednesday about noon, so 12 hours for two guys, lots of rat-a-tat-tat under there. They used little Makita hammer drivers with a 90 degree head where needed, but got 'em all, took photos as they went…

Next step is the city permit inspector, this next Monday, but as the foreman said, they don’t really crawl it all, generally take a look at the phots, and sign off. So we’ll see how it goes Monday, then it’s all in the paperwork to clear…

So I can’t reload the closet until it’s final, mustn’t block access…

Contractor has been great, responsive, I misread the invoice, thought it said $2100, wrote the check, then realized it said $2160, so wrote a note to the office manager, she wrote back, no problem, she adjusted the invoice to match what I’d paid… Paid in Full! Nice attitude throughout, I was going to drop the difference in the mail, but, no need…

Progress…

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Today was the City Permit Inspection day, the foreman Matt came by a bit early to take a couple photos that were out of focus, Inspector came did look at nearby plates, but was happy with the photos, signed it all off as the Final Approval, so now it’s up tot he Contractor’s Office manager to complete their end and the await the $3k Check to show up…

Smooth!

EBB called last week, and emailed later, after I’d written a contractor review on their portal website, letting us know a 3rd party Inspection/verification is headed our way… No effect on their grant, just a check on the Contractor and how well they’ve dome their work. This is beyond the before/after photos the contractor took, so just an additional inspection, no fees or anything…

But it means I still can’t reload all the carp back into the closet, so they have access to the crawlspace hatch…

The beat goes on… But good to see the program is taking their work seriously…

weco

I won’t question their approach. But I will point out that very modern building, and very old building, allowed the structure to move. Some buildings are put on giant rollers, and/or are designed to flex. In Japan I saw intricate joints that were designed to allow things to move.

https://www.core77.com/posts/67922/These-Ingenious-2500-Year…

(I saw these in Japan, but apparently they are Chinese?)

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Indeed, many huge structures use a variety of flex joints, to ease the shock and shuffle of earthquakes. Our stemwall foundation was bolted through the sill plates, so the added L-brackets are an additional way to prevent the home from sliding off it’s foundation…

The methods used vary by many criteria, single or multi-floor home, basement or not, and whether shear walls are needed to be added… Any of that would have raised the costs, procedures… So we were somewhat minimal as far as need…

We have had decent shakers, a recent one, in 1989, the Loma Prieta, 7.2, lasted a long time, had me up standing in the real doorway, deciding to stay or bail out… I began hearing nails creaking, but as it settled down, we only had a few drywall cracks, so it held together fine…

But it took down a bridge section on the Oakland Bay Bridge, collapsed the Cypress Freeway in the East Bay, and a lot of other serious damage… So we pay attention…

On the job, WeCo Installation, we did a lot of heavy duty equipment bracing, so a lot was imbedded in my mind all along…

Recent hikes in rebuild costs, lack of builders, insurance rate hikes left us with this option to reduce the costs…

Rock n Roll!!

Tah Dah! The EBB Grant check came today, soon passed along to the contractor for their balance still owed… Nice to deal with a company with their act together, glad to do the final payment!

Next week the EBB sponsored work inspector is coming for an additional check on the work done, more photos, the scheduler I talked to told me there is no need for any communication with the inspector, he’ll pop under, do their thing and leave. She said they have a robot, if needed to reach all the nooks and crannies, I’ll see if I can snag the photos/videos, been many years since I’ve been under there, be nice to see for my own curiosity as well as maybe correcting my sketches if plumbing is not where I think it is now… They really are doing a review of the Contractor to share with EBB. Nice thing to do for everyone…

Be nice to get all my ‘stuff’ put away again… Maybe find some to toss/donate…

Progress…

weco

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This morning the verification inspector came by, took pics of the water heater strapping, and then dropped a robot into he crawlspace to run around, verify the bracketing the contractor had completed. So verifying the work, for the EBB , a check on the contractor.

Half hour of access, packed up, gone, satisfied, , it seemed…

The bot was interesting, not sure he actually went everywhere, I’d sent them my foundation sketch, but I think they really only wanted to see just parts, not map out the whole crawlspace… As I would have done…

OK, now I can shuffle, move my ‘stuff’ back in the closet again…

Progress!

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