Earthquake Bolting A House? Earthquake Insurance?

[jyl]

My wife is concerned that Oregon is due for a big earthquake, and wants to bolt the house and get earthquake insurance.

Any information you guys have, would be welcome. I know zero about this.

The house is three story (2 + finished attic), wood frame, full basement, about 100 years old. The basement is unfinished, so there is access to the foundation, mudsill, an everything above.

Has anyone bolted their house, installed cripple wall shear panels, tie-downs, etc? How much work was it, is any skill required, did you DIY or have it done?

And does anyone have earthquake insurance, or even perhaps had occasion to collect on it?

[craigster59]

Maybe the guy living under the house can do it cheap? J/K.

It's pretty easy w/ a raised foundation. Drill through the sill plate and epoxy bolts into the foundation walls. Not sure what a company would charge. earthquake insurance would be pretty cheap in Oregon I would think.

[sammyg2]

I look at it this way:

No earthquake insurance for me. The deductable is huge so you'd pretty much have to loose the structure.

if the big one hit and it was big enough to take my house, it would also take 5 million other houses.
No insurance company would survive that, there would be no insurance payments coming my way, I'd be in the same boat as everyone else. SOL.
Except I have enough saved to replace the house.

Or maybe I'd take the scum-bag route and live in FEMA trailer until they evicted me ................

[ckelly78z]

I don't think I would do it, take the loss and start over. It would be kinda like saving a fire damaged house at the last moment, and then having to rebuild rather than building what you truly want because the insurance company won't call it a complete loss.

I've always heard on a house fire to wait 10 minutes before calling the fire dept, because it's a whole lot easier to build new one than to rebuild the old damaged one.

I think bolting the foundation would give you a somewhat livable (???) structure compared to a rubble pile

[look 171]

I am with Sammy on this one.

The real way to do this is to get engineering done but that is $$$$ just to get it off the ground.

Normally around here, shear panels are installed from the sill plate and up all through the cripple wall with 1" vent holes drilled 12 " apart Simpson UFP 10 plates are installed. They should be places 12" from all corners and 12" from any break on the sill plate and 6' apart. is max allowable length between plates. Some people just drill holes right through the bottom plates and epoxy a 5/8 anchors to the foundation with a 2 1/2" washer. Check your building code on that one. Simpson A35 clips are used up top to tie up the top of cripple walls to the floor. Connect all post with AC post cap to girder. The trick is to create a continuous load patch for all three stories. Tearing out a large section of the house is required. Bolting of the perimeter between floor should be done to create a continuous load all the way up to the food.

[craigster59]

I took a big hit in the Northridge quake, About $25k in damages, no earthquake insurance. I had a couple of neighbors who did have insurance and had even more damage.

FEMA stepped in and gave SBA loans at around 2.5%. I took one for $20k and rebuilt my garage and chimney. Did all demo myself, built the garage myself and subbed out the chimney and fireplace. Wasn't too bad. Neighbors with insurance were still fighting with their insurance companies for payment by the time I was done and settled.

Paid off the loan pretty quick. There were a lot of rumors going around that "Just make the minimum payment because I heard from my uncle/cousin/BIL who lost his house in tornado/flood that after 2 years SBA forgave the loan". Not true, everybody had to pay. In the end I made out okay whereas neighbors who finally settled with ins. co. were either dropped or rates went sky high.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by craigster59

IIn the end I made out okay whereas neighbors who finally settled with ins. co. were either dropped or rates went sky high.

It's my understanding that homeowners insurance policies no longer pay for earthquake damage without a specific rider written in. My policy even excludes acts of terrorism!

[look 171]

I don't have earthquake insurance. I think most people don't have it as far as I know.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by widebody911

It's my understanding that homeowners insurance policies no longer pay for earthquake damage without a specific rider written in. My policy even excludes acts of terrorism!

I'm sorry, but your policy doesn't cover RPG damage...

[Nostril Cheese]

I'm more worried about flooding.

[Bugsinrugs]

If the earthquake does enough damage, just light the structure on fire. Everyone has fire insurance ,correct?

[jyl]

So it sounds like the consensus is doing the bolting, but skip the insurance?

[Nostril Cheese]

I did a few seismic retrofits back in Los Angeles. If you're talking about LA, then yes, bolting is good, insurance isnt.

[A930Rocket]

Without the structure tied from the footing to the ridge, you'll end up with a bottom plate tied to the foundation in an earthquake.

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

if the big one hit and it was big enough to take my house, it would also take 5 million other houses.
No insurance company would survive that, there would be no insurance payments coming my way,........

This^

A wood-frame structure is the best to survive an earthquake. If a quake takes it down, not only is every home in the neighborhood gone, but there are no more water/gas/sewer/phone lines functioning, and the roads are busted up so bad to be unusable.

A friend lives in Kobe, Japan, and after their devastating quake several years ago, they have adopted our building codes, using wood framing.

[LWJ]

John,

The bolting is critical to securing EQ insurance. Without it, you may not be able to obtain it. However, with an old house I imagine you may not have a steel reinforced concrete for the foundation. You may have a block foundation - I did on an old Portland house that was built in 1914.

1) Yes. Do the bolts. It is not hard or expensive.

2) EQ insurance does cost some money. I did obtain this for my house with Cincinnati for less than the cost that Liberty / Safeco insured my house without it. It is not THAT much money. My thinking is this. My house is the largest asset I have. I don't want to have to pony up to replace my house in the event of an EQ. Also, as I sell EQ insurance and recommend it for my business clients, I felt like a hypocrite if I didn't have it myself.

As for the financial benefit? It probably isn't a critical deal. As another poster said, FEMA might give out cheap loans and the damage might be in the 25 - 50K range which is not something that will completely change your life.

In summary? Will your wife feel better? Perhaps. That might be worth it. Financially? Maybe / maybe not. Look at your foundation. A block foundation could crumble in a big quake.

Good luck,
Larry

[Tobra]

Earthquake insurance is a sucker bet. You are not a sucker.

Reinforcements are probably a good idea, but I don't know how much good they would do in that sort of structure. Is your hot water heater secured? That is easy, and a good idea.

[GWN7]

The house is 100 years old? What is the foundation made of? If it isn't made of reinforced concrete tied to the footing you might be wasting your money.

[aigel]

Your wife is probably not a statistician, but I'd point out to her that the house hasn't been damaged or wasted in an earthquake in the last 100 years, so chances it will do it in the next 20 are also very low. If you start engineering work on it, you will spend $$$ up front to insure against such an event that is very unlikely.

Some easy math: If it is $30k to brace this up to where it makes a difference, and rebuilding the whole house is $300k, this means you are banking on a 1:10 chance of a total loss. That's total loss, partial loss not even factored in. That is MANY orders of magnitude higher chance you are assuming than reality. Even if it is only 15k to do the job, you are only at a 1:20 return.

Now, if you are worried about getting killed in the house, that's a different story. Fear is something that can unsettle people daily and you may have to react to that. Then I'd consider moving to a newer structure. Single story, wood. Or just don't be home ...

G

[intakexhaust]

Not positive on all situations with earthquake insurance, BUT YOU NEED to KNOW whether covered by fire caused by an earthquake. That's where majority of damage is done. So say your covered by the fire then... right? Think again. Guaranteed screw you fine print by some of the largest insurers!!!!!

BTW: This evening was interesting. Tornado alley throughout the Chicago region. Municipal sirens blowing, path of one skimming on by. Duck down to the basements. In the AM will see the damage done in some areas. Be safe all.