At Victor Construction, we have served several Marin County and Surrounding counties by fulfilling Brace + Bolt Home Retrofits.
Strengthen Your House
The EBB program relies on adherence to the California Building Code, Appendix Chapter A3. Chapter A3 is a statewide building code that sets prescriptive standards for seismic retrofits of existing residential buildings.
Chapter A3 allows:
the building department to approve the retrofit for a house with a 4-foot or shorter cripple wall, without requiring plans prepared by a registered design professional (architect or engineer). retrofits for houses with cripple walls higher than 4-feet with plans prepared by a registered design professional. Surrounding the crawl space under the first floor, many houses have a short wood framed wall (“cripple wall”) that needs to be strengthened to prevent the house from sliding or toppling off of its foundation during an earthquake. Strengthening involves adding anchor bolts and plywood bracing in the crawl space.
More information on qualifying retrofits.
CRAWL SPACE VIEW
EBB is limited to funding residential retrofit expenses in the crawl space that:
Bolt: add anchor bolts and sill plates in the crawl space to improve the connection between the wood framing of the house and its concrete foundation to help keep the house from sliding. Brace: strengthen the cripple walls in the crawl space with plywood will help keep the house from toppling off of the foundation during an earthquake. Strengthening cripple walls enables them to function as shear members, significantly protecting the house from collapsing. Strap and Brace the Water Heater: properly strap and brace the water heater to reduce the likelihood of water and fire damage, and to protect the water supply. Houses that meet Chapter A3 specifications are typically: wood-framed construction built before 1979 built on a level or low slope
constructed with a 4-foot (or less) cripple wall under the first floor OR
constructed with a cripple wall between 4 feet and 7 feet (requires an engineered solution) have a raised foundation
Click here for examples of successful projects we’ve completed. To apply for the EBB Program, fill out our quick form or give us a call today (415) 472-9144