The Significance of Earthquake Retrofitting

Implementing earthquake retrofitting to your building is the best way to ensure the stability of the structure. An earthquake retrofitting process will increase the strength of your foundation and guarantee the safety of the residents living in the building.

The expenses that the property owners should meet during earthquake retrofitting might seem a bit large, but in fact, the expenses become building equity as the process increases the value of the property and decreases Probable Maximum Loss (PML) percentage. In addition, the expenses of earthquake retrofitting can be met within 2-8 years due to the reduced rate of earthquake insurance premium.

An earthquake can cause serious damage to your property and might even result in injuries or death of the residents. If the property owners have not implemented proper earthquake retrofitting measures, they might have to face the loss of residents, destruction of the property, and loss of other valuable equipments, and eventually their business operations will be delayed for a very long time.

Furthermore, in some cases, the injured residents may file a case against the property owners for not undertaking necessary safety precautions. However, through earthquake retrofitting process you can take the necessary preventive measures to counteract the hazardous effects of an earthquake.

Earthquake Retrofitting Process for Commercial Buildings

Hire a structural engineer for a careful examination of your building and look for issues or problems that may affect the strength and stability of your building. The reports drafted by the structural engineer would contain maintenance and other related plans that are necessary for the completion of earthquake retrofitting process. You need to submit these plans to a county agency for approval.

After receiving approval from the officials, hire an expert and experienced team of earthquake retrofitting to undertake the necessary maintenance process. The contractor will list the works to be completed, and submit a proposal to the property owners. Property owners should verify that all the plans mentioned in the structural engineer’s draft are included in the proposal.

After signing the proposal, the earthquake retrofitting team will start their work. Upon, the completion of the maintenance process, the structural engineer will return to the site to make sure that all the necessary steps are met. The contractor will have to make necessary arrangements to fix the issues, which are still not met as per the plan.

The structural engineer will finally submit a draft, once pleased with the maintenance. The report drafted by the engineer is submitted to officials for approval. The official will sign the permit to ensure that the maintenance is successfully completed as per the initial plan.

Posted on Thursday, January 25th, 2018.