$Preface and Credit

To protect your family and secure your investment here in earthquake country, you may need to strengthen your wood frame house. This electronic book explains common weaknesses found in wood frame houses and describes how to make such houses stronger. The remodeling necessary to make a house safer in earthquakes is not especially complicated, but you will need some basic information in order to plan the process carefully.

In recent earthquakes, wood frame houses have been damaged in ways that could have been prevented. Some relatively simple strengthening measures can greatly reduce the risk of injuries and property loss in an earthquake. This part of Be Prepared! is intended to encourage homeowners to consider upgrading their houses for earthquake safety. It describes earthquake hazards common to wood frame structures, typical ways to minimize those hazards, and the approximate costs of making older wood frame houses safer in earthquakes.

It is not possible to identify every potential problem that may be encountered in the process of upgrading a home. The information herein is not a substitute for structural design or evaluation by a licensed civil or structural engineer or architect, nor for assessment of site characteristics by a licensed engineering geologist or geotechnical engineer.

The work on the booklet which this part of Be Prepared! is based on was jointly funded by the California Office of Emergency Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, under cooperative agreement EMF-89-K-03 13.

BAREPP: Bay Area Regional Earthquake Preparedness Project, Oakland, California and; VM: Vickerman Zachary Miller Engineering Architecture, Oakland, California.

Because the science of earthquake engineering is not sufficiently developed to enable the prediction of an earthquake's consequences, there can be no guarantee that application of the information in the original booklet or in this electronic edition will safeguard people and property in an earthquake. The information in this publication has been carefully reviewed, but neither the authors, the reviewers, Vickerman Zachary Miller, the State of California, nor FEMA assumes liability for any injury, death, or property damage resulting from an earthquake.

In even moderate earthquakes, your house can shake violently from side to side, toppling the chimney, cracking walls, and even shifting off its foundation. During the shaking, the contents of the house can be thrown about and damaged or destroyed. To protect your family and secure your investment here in earthquake country, you may need to strengthen your wood frame house. This part of Be Prepared! explains common weaknesses found in wood frame houses and describes how to make such houses stronger. The remodeling necessary to make a house safer in earthquakes is not especially complicated, but you will need some basic information in order to plan the process carefully.