Earthquake-Resistant Housing
The podcast crew discusses options and strategies for keeping your house attached to the foundation during a seismic event.
In this podcast short, the Fine Homebuilding crew responds to this question from podcast listener Lloyd Brown:
“A great discussion in Episode 142 about resources for building houses that are resilient in the face of hurricanes, storm surges, etc. Where I live in central Utah, we’re extremely close to a major seismic fault line and have been warned for years about being overdue for a big earthquake. Though of course, it’s impossible to predict when that would happen. So here’s the question. If you were building a new home in an earthquake zone like this, what would you do to try and minimize the damage from a significant quake? Are there learning resources beyond FEMA and IBHS (Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety)?”
Watch or listen to the podcast to see what Patrick, Rob, and Matt have to say, including:
- How wood-frame construction may be more resilient to seismic events because it is light and rigid
- Different theories about a home’s connection to the foundation
- Details about a project out of Stanford in which a stucco house built on metal plates was able to withstand extreme shaking
- Why drywall might be more important than you would initially think
- How seismic strategies can pair well with air-sealing methods
Photo courtesy of the US Geological Survey via Creative Commons
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