One Bible for seismic retrofitters
ESR-1539, formerly NER 272, governs “Power-driven staples and nails for use in all types of building construction.”
Practical application for good residential seismic retrofits
ESR-1539 lists the earthquake resistance of nails and staples. It is useful when designing a residential seismic retrofit, no matter what retrofit method you use. This is important not only if you design your own retrofit but will also give you a sound basis with which you can ask retrofit contractors and engineers questions to see if they know what they should know about residential seismic retrofitting.
ESR-1539 is especially useful when designing earthquake retrofits for atypical houses that don’t use commonly found nails and staples. For example, if you want to staple two pieces of wood together to prevent splitting and also want to know if it can resist earthquakes, ESR-1579 will tell you.
Along with the hardware found in the Simpson Strong-Tie Catalog, nails and staples are the most common products used in wood frame seismic retrofits.
