Many Bay Area homeowners who have had their homes retrofitted by local Bay Area seismic retrofit contractors live under a false sense of security.

Many of these seismic retrofits were done improperly by well meaning earthquake retrofit contractors because there is no special licensing for seismic retrofit contractors or a seismic retrofit code for building departments to follow.

Organizations such as the Association of Bay Area Governments, the California Earthquake Authority and the Department of Insurance have access to funds to provide retrofit grants, retrofit loans and retrofit rebates, but have been extremely wary of providing this funding. This is because they have no way of knowing if the money they spend will be effective. You too have will have no way of knowing unless you educate yourself. You certainly don't want the earthquake to let you know your retrofit was done wrong.

Building departments do not allow permit applications that are procured by East Bay seismic retrofit contractors be worded as a "seismic retrofit".  Instead seismic retrofit contractors and even engineers must specify the work in generic terms such as "install bolts, plywood, etc" and at best call the job a "voluntary seismic upgrade." Plans are submitted but not reviewed for effectiveness. Bay Area earthquake retrofit contractosr are given free reign to do whatever they wished, whether the "seismic retrofit" would resist and earthquake or not.

For many years Berkeley retrofit permits were stamped "No lateral analysis has been made to determine the performance of this voluntary retrofit". Everyone saw this stamp except the homeowner. That way when the house falls down, building departments can free themselves of liability by claiming they never said the work would prevent the house from falling of its foundation. Again, this is why it is imperative for you to EDUCATE YOURSELF on this website and elsewhere.

On a recent job, a City of Oakland the Building Inspector told us "There is no reason for me to even look at your work. I have no authority to say whether you did it right or wrong". He then signed off on the permit without even looking at the work. 

Many people find this unconscionable, given the threat posed by the Hayward Fault.The Berkeley Retrofit Transfer Tax Program, which gives new homeowner’s a financial incentive to retrofit their homes, spent over 20 million dollars of taxpayer’s money on seismic retrofits of questionable value. Berkeley has spent a lot of money on promoting seismic safety, but each Berkeley retrofit now needs to be evaluated for effectiveness and repaired as required.  
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This newer home was retrofitted with grooved plywood installed on the outside. It is part of a shear wall and failed because it was not properly nailed, in violation of the building code for new construction. It was done by a licensed contractor and inspected by the building department. The quality of retrofit work that has no licensing or code to follow is even worse.

Most homeowners believe the building inspector will make sure the retrofit of their home is done correctly. This is not the case. Do not count on them to evaluate the effectiveness of your retrofit. Your only recourse is to EDUCATE YOURSELF so that you can evaluate the work yourself, or hire a member of the American Society of Home Inspectors. 

Here are Two Real-Life Examples We Encountered:

 • The Kline family lives in Oakland and recently hired a contractor to bolt their house to the foundation.  We were called to inspect the strapping of the water heater. We discovered that the hardware installed was designed to resist hurricanes rather than earthquakes and provided this home with no protection.  The Klines had spent $6,000 on this retrofit and when they called the building department, were told there was nothing they could do. 
 
• Mr. and Mrs. Brogan of Kensington bought a house that was already retrofitted. We were called out as part of the real estate transaction.  We discovered all the plywood had nails blown through it which is not approved of by the building code.  In an earthquake the plywood pulls away from the nails, which causes the nails to sink into the plywood.  This installation created earthquake damage without an earthquake.  Removing the miss-installed plywood caused the retrofit to be 25% more expensive.

Both of these retrofits were performed by licensed contractors and had been inspected by the building department. 

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