Our Approach

Our approach to retrofitting can be seen in a presentation we did for the 8 minute NewsHour/PBS documentary "Hazards of the Hayward Fault" (click to see full size or play video below). It is also described in an article we wrote for a national trade magazine "The Journal of Light Construction".

Our proposal will outline what we believe will resist 7.0+ earthquakes in the most cost-effective way. If this is beyond your budget, we can phase your retrofit project so that it will resist the smaller, much more common 5 or 6 point magnitude earthquakes and will be fully upgradable to resist larger earthquakes.

Experience and Services

Bay Area Retrofit has worked as full-time seismic retrofit contractors for the past 16 years and have provided earthquake retrofit services in Albany, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Richmond, Berkeley, Oakland, San Jose, Orinda, Lafayetter, Pleasanton, as well as most San Francisco and South Bay communities. We provide the following affordable earthquake retrofit services:

• Seismic Retrofits of Residential & Commercial
• Properties
• Structural Evaluations
  
• Engineering Services
  
• Foundation Reports
  

In addition, Bay Area Retrofit serves as consulting adviser to local building departments and disaster preparedness agenies.

We encourage you to contact us about any concerns you have regarding the earthquake safety of your own home. We have been trained by the top seismic engineers in the country and the best structural engineers in northern California. These specialists remain mentors, friends, and sources of the most up-to-date seismic retrofit information. If we don't have the answers to your questions, we know someone who does.

The Caliornia Earthquake Authority has 23 million dollars to mitigate damage to people's Homes. Please see this link The full scope of this program has not been finalized, but based on our most recent conservations with the CEA, this program will also provide training for contractors, seminars for homeowners so that they can better choose a contractor, and support to local building departments. Our website will post updates to this program as the program evolves.

While working for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Howard Cook was required to document injuries as well as structural damage. He observed that all the injuries he encountered arose from people trying to flee the earthquake. ...more

member EERI