A soft-story building is a multi-story structure built with a first floor that is open in nature, much less rigid (soft) than the floors above. There are many examples of buildings with soft-story conditions including multi-family apartment buildings with tuck-under parking or subterranean parking. Soft-story apartment buildings are prevalent in California known to be the […]
SB 721, Hill. Building standards: decks and balconies: Inspection for apartments not an HOA or condominium. The issue is the scope (or extent) of the inspection is not clearly defined in the ordinance. Saunders Construction is working with engineers and state officials to clarify the extent of the inspections! Due to the ambiguity of the […]
What comes to mind when contemplating geological disasters? The two at the forefront of most peoples’ minds would be volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Although these types of disasters affect vast regions near and far across the planet, we have yet to see a global pandemic that affects all regions simultaneously as we are experiencing now. […]
Soft-story apartment buildings are prevalent in Los Angeles and Orange County which are also considered earthquake-prone territories, specifically Los Angeles. Soft-story / apartment buildings are at risk of earthquake damage however; seismic retrofits will help mitigate the destruction for vulnerable structures. The main feature Soft-story buildings are easily recognized by is also the main reason […]
Throughout the years in California, we’ve heard about many large magnitude earthquakes, such as the Northridge quake in 1994. California, of course, isn’t the only state vulnerable to earthquakes. All along the western coast, earthquakes happen in Oregon, Washington, and neighboring states. Although earthquake damage can be devastating, smaller quakes do serve a useful purpose: […]
Many property owners in California have unsafe and outdated soft-story building. These buildings often have multiple unsupported openings on the ground floor of the building. This can result in the soft story building crumbling, collapsing, or even causing damage to other surrounding buildings. Safety Versus Function Structural engineers and contractors have an important job when it […]
If you live in California, you may be wondering as a building owner or manager if your building is going to be in danger during the next earthquake. There will also be another earthquake after that! The main topic you want to consider when thinking about the types of buildings that are one of types of […]