What Everyone Should Know About Earthquakes and Structures

This post was originally published on the Richard J. Driscoll, Consulting Engineer blog and has been edited for length. The original can be found here.

Partially collapsed building. 2008 Wells, NV Earthquake (Utah Geological Survey)

Most people understand that earthquakes can produce catastrophic damage to the built environment. However, given that large earthquakes are relatively rare, and that the television news cameras typically move on a few days after any disaster, a lot of people’s understanding of the effects of earthquakes may be shaped more by bad disaster movies than reality. Continue reading “What Everyone Should Know About Earthquakes and Structures”

Is Your Roof Strong Enough for Snow?

Any structure must resist all of the loads to which it is expected to be exposed, including those from occupancy and those from the natural environment, such as wind, snow and earthquakes. For residential buildings, typically defined as one and two-family homes and townhouses, this can be accomplished by following prescriptive provisions of the Residential code, which provide span tables for joists and studs, connection schedules and other design requirements in tabular form. These tables are generally derived from requirements of the general building code based on conservative assumptions and simplifications.

The prescriptive provisions cover a lot of common construction systems and loads but is not all-inclusive. Structural design that falls outside the limits of the code is required to comply with the general building code. Design of these elements and systems fall under the practice of architecture and engineering and must be performed by licensed professionals. Continue reading “Is Your Roof Strong Enough for Snow?”

Will Your House Flood This Year?

After a record-breaking  2017 hurricane season and a string of strong coastal storms over the winter, flooding has been in the news a lot recently. June brings the beginning of the Atlantic hurricane season.  Floods can be catastrophic, as well as deadly. Therefore, you should have some understanding of your exposure to flood risk, to protect yourself and your property, especially if you own a home or are considering building a home.

Continue reading “Will Your House Flood This Year?”