Concerned how an earthquake might affect your building or mandated by local ordinances to provide a soft story screening?
I would greatfully send you a letter of competency and praise for the timely analysis and review recommendations of our soft story building with the City of Oakland’s ordinance program -John Drab
Adan Engineering works with building owners to identify and rank buildings that are potentially hazardous or to assess soft stories that have been mandated for an evaluation or screening.
Dr. Adan, a licensed Structural Engineer, has been certified by the Cities of Oakland, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Los Angeles and the State of California to perform the screenings. For a limited time, Adan Engineering is offering a seismic screening service for a flat $649 fee. The service includes the following:
- Building observation and evaluation.
- A seismic hazard report.
Additional follow-up structural engineering consulting services are also available upon request.
Soft Story Evaluation and Retrofit Portfolio
Click on an image for a detailed description.
Soft-Story Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is a soft story building? Answer – The City of Oakland defines a soft story building as a multi-family structure constructed prior to 1991 that has large ground-floor openings (entryways, garage doors, windows, etc.) with slender columns supporting the upper stories. These “soft story” structures are particularly vulnerable to damage or collapse in an earthquake.
2. What is the Soft Story Seismic Screening Program? Answer – An Oakland ordinance (12966 CMS) mandates soft story residential building owners provide simple and low-cost information (Level 1 Screening) to the City about their building’s ground-floor structural supports. It does not require any type of structural retrofit.
3. Who can complete the Screening? Answer – Building owners may hire an authorized structural engineer to complete the Level 1 screening form.
Related Publications
Atteberry, J. and Adan, S. M., 2011, “What Is Sotf-Story Seismic Retrofitting?,” HowStuffWorks Inc., A Discovery Company, Discovery Communications, LLC.
McCormick, D. L. and Adan, S. M., 2010, “Building Occupancy Resumption Program for Post-Earthquake Damage Assessment and Recovery,” Proceedings of the 9th US National and 10th Canadian Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Toronto, Ontario. Paper No. 1610, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute.
Adan, S. M. and Rollins, K. M., 1993, “Damage Potential Index Mapping for Salt Lake Valley, UT.” Utah Geological Survey, Miscellaneous Publication 93-4.
