Several top-notch organizations in Los Angeles offer seismic retrofit construction services. These include Lux Construction Group, which is the most reputed organization in the industry. They have highly experienced contractors who handle a wide range of projects, including Architecture Urgent Care, Medical Clinic Remodeling, Dental Office Construction, Soft Story and many more.
Almost all residential buildings, especially those built before 1980, are vulnerable to major earthquake damage. They may shift or even fall off their foundations during a seismic event, making it difficult for people to evacuate.
This risk is greater in homes with raised foundations or where the house has a crawl space. This type of house often requires bolting to its foundation, as the structure is not braced enough and can easily slide off.
If you own a raised foundation home in Los Angeles, it is critical to retrofit it to be safe and secure from a major earthquake. Investing in earthquake retrofitting can save you thousands of dollars in repairs after an earthquake.
The cost of a retrofit varies, but it usually costs between $3,000 and $7,000. It can be done by an amateur homeowner or by a professional contractor. If you want to do it yourself, there are a number of tutorials online that show you how to do the work.
A licensed retrofitter will inspect the property for the required items and then issue a Certificate of Compliance to escrow and/or the agent. Most inspections are completed in a day or less.
Another option is to hire an engineer to examine the house and give you a recommendation on how to upgrade it to withstand earthquakes. If you decide to go this route, it is important to find a structural engineer who has experience with this specific type of retrofitting.
Optimum Seismic, one of the largest providers of wood-frame and unreinforced masonry retrofits in Southern California, was founded in 1984 by a UCLA civil engineering graduate. Since then it has seen a rapid increase in its business.
As the City of Los Angeles passed laws that require soft-story buildings to be retrofitted, retrofitters los angeles a surge in demand has driven the company’s growth. Currently, it has more than two dozen employees and an assembly plant near its Vernon headquarters.
If you own a wood-frame building constructed before 1980, it will need to be retrofitted under new ordinances that were implemented in October 2015. The city has put a finite time limit on when structures that are in danger of being catastrophically damaged in a earthquake must be upgraded.
This deadline is quickly approaching, so it’s time to act now! It could mean the difference between saving a significant amount of money and suffering major losses.
You may be able to get financial help for your soft-story retrofit from the state, the federal government or your insurance provider. The California Earthquake Authority provides a program to reduce the cost of earthquake coverage by up to 5 percent if you retrofit your house.