After a decade of punishing drought, Los Angeles is finally getting significant rainfall this season. While all this rain is welcome in Southern California lakes and reservoirs, there are also some undesirable consequences coming in with the storms, like failing hillsides and suddenly appearing sinkholes in roads.
Tri Span Environmental Does Earthquake Retrofitting
Many buildings in the Los Angeles area are not adequately built to withstand a major earthquake, but improvements can be made to make these buildings more resistant to movements of the earth. There are several methods for making an older building less likely to collapsing in a major quake.
Doing this is one of the most important parts of earthquake retrofitting in the Los Angeles area, but it is only the first step. Assuring that the walls of the building are adequately braced against lateral movement is the other important step in retrofitting a building for earthquake safety in Los Angles.
To do this, critical load-bearing walls are identified by structural engineers, and then plywood paneling is installed on these walls to reinforce against shaking. Walls are then patched and repainted, and the strengthened wall underneath becomes invisible.
Large, open spans in garage doors and carports are other parts of Los Angeles buildings in need of earthquake upgrading. In these situations, plywood sheer-walls are often augmented with custom designed steel brackets and heavy-duty bolts to keep framing members ridged in the event of an earthquake.