This 20-minute video provides two examples where notching the joists is acceptable for cripple wall and no cripple wall retrofits even if it is a code violation.

This 13 minute only looks at joist notching where there are no cripple walls.

Seismic Retrofits And Easy Floor Connections

 

This video looks at the ICC 1300 floor connection Detail 3, Sheet D3 in FEMA P-1100 Vulnerability Based Seismic Assessment and Retrofit of One and Two-Story Dwellings , also known as ICC 1300.  And compares it to a method contractors have been using for many years and are more effective and at least 50 times faster.

Engineers look at retrofitting strictly as a math problem while contractors and especially homeowners look very carefully at cost.  This video looks at a retrofit strategy that will save homeowners thousands of dollars but is not accepted by the engineering community because of one very minor deviation from the building code.  The deviation is so minor it is hard to believe someone would prefer to make the customer pay $300 for the earthquake retrofit compared to $4,000 if this deviation was overlooked.  Such rigidness goes a long way in making FEMA P-1100 so unaffordable.  

This video will save you money if you are in the retrofit business or are thinking about doing your own.  If you would like to look at its most current form go to the California Earthquake Authority website and download the document.

This webpage is for educational purposes only.

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Everything expressed here is solely the views of the author. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this video do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Applied Technology Council, or the International Code Council.