Property owners who are considering a seismic retrofit will be miles ahead of the game if they do their homework first.

When deciding on what needs to be done and on which contractor to hire, a few hours on the Web will pay big dividends.

First place to look: The Association of Bay Area Governments Web site (www.abag.ca.gov) has a huge amount of information. Type "retrofit" in the search box on the main page and you will be linked to scores of articles.

Best among them is an instruction manual and slide show on retrofitting principles. This comprehensive course was funded by the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) and the materials are used by the association in training courses it sponsors for building inspectors and contractors.

The manual, and especially the slides, make their points quickly and clearly. You needn't have had to pass your contractor's licensing test to understand them.

The site also offers a list of Bay Area contractors that have taken the association's retrofit course (www.abag.ca.gov/cgi-bin/contractors.pl). Also, spend some time at www.abag.ca.gov/bayarea/eqmaps/fixit/resources.html. This is a comprehensive list of frequently asked questions for retrofitting.

Also of note: Howard Cook, a contractor who says that he has done more than 1,000 seismic retrofits of Bay Area buildings, has produced a Web site that is far more than just an advertisement for his business.

The pages at www.bayarearetrofit.com are chock full of easy-to-understand diagrams and text that cover the basics of retrofitting and even go a bit beyond.

Especially worth reading is Cook's well-reasoned plea for California cities and counties to adopt retrofit building codes. Go to the home page and click on the button that says "false security."

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