Any experience with seismic upgrades?

December 24, 2006 10:06 AM

Anyone know anything about seismic upgrades? We own a 40 year old house in the SF Bay Area, love it, and plan to live in it for years and years to come. However, it's a 1.5 story house built against a hill, with the majority of the house sitting above a two car garage. There's...

So the house is a 40 year old 3 bd/2 bth, built against a modest hill. The hill is stable (we had the ground structurally inspected before we moved in 8 years ago) but the floorplan is a classic "soft story" design, with the house above the garage. The garage is a huge open space with no central support. There is a load bearing wall on one side of the garage, splitting the load of the house 33% / 66%. Some sort of steel reinforcement is needed to span this open space and better support the house above.

So, we know we need to contact a structural engineer and have plans drawn up, etc. We also know the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) maintains a list of structural engineers who can do this sort of work, What we don't know is how much such an upgrade might cost, how long it may take, and any way of discerning the relative merits of the various enigneering firms on the ABAG list. Has anyone on MeFi gone through this process? Any tips? I don't need the DIY side of this, I need to hear about the paying-someone-else-to-do-the-big-job side of things. Thanks!

posted by mosk to Home & Garden (2 answers total)

The cost of good drawings and specs usually pays for itself, as the contractors should be able to give you a more accurate bid based on them, and the one you select should be able to finish the job with fewer problems. Your engineer might also be able to develop some cost-effective solutions for your project. (Depends on the engineer and contractor of course, YMMV)

Hourly rates are likely in the $90+/hour range, and you should allow the engineer enough time to develop the plans. Again, time spent on plans may be offset by quicker, better construction. Ask for references, and contact the references about quality of work, and whether the engineer offered support through both design *and* construction.

Contact Degenkolb Engineers, and see if Carrie Mitchell or Laurie Johnston can refer you to a firm that does residental work.
posted by trixie_bee at 10:56 AM on December 24, 2006

Response by poster: That's a great suggestion - thanks!
posted by mosk at 9:19 PM on December 24, 2006