When things start to fall; how to reinforce your house against potential earthquakes
by Samantha Simpson Hi there, This is Samantha, A professional writerEarthquakes can strike without much warning. Recently, seismographic data has made it easier to predict earthquakes and to warn people about potentially strong earthquakes. This kind of data allows people to ensure that they have made the necessary precautions to protect themselves and their property from any sort of earthquake related damage.
Recently, buildings are being made according to new technologies that provide earthquake relief. There is a complete branch of earthquake engineering that keeps potential earthquakes in mind while building buildings, structures, and homes. To protect your own home from earthquake damage, here are a few measures you can take.
Fasten Your House
Add steel bolts and plates to anchor your home to its foundation. Check if your home is bolted or not by crawling into the crawl space or basement, and check if there are bolts or plates along the wall that tie the sill to the foundation. If they are not present, you can hire a professional to install them.
Protect the Cripple Wall
The cripple wall is the short wall between your foundation
and the first-floor layer. You can cover it with sheathing or protective casing
in order to strengthen your foundation against earthquakes.
Inspect the electricity and gas lines in your home. Check if
any of the wires have their outer edges worn out, or if they are in need of
replacement. If so, seek adequate professional help to fix the broken or leaky
connections. Try to get some flexible pipe fittings for gas and water
connections. These fittings won’t break easily in case there is an earthquake.
An easy way to counter faulty wiring is to use wireless tech more often. For home
security options, Vivint security can be quite effective, given their wide array of wireless
features.
If there are any heavy duty appliances in your home, make
sure you secure them to the floor and the wall. This includes a fridges,
stoves, gas heaters, and dishwashers. This decreases the risk of them sliding
off the wall and hurting someone in case there are earthquake shocks. This also
protects the equipment from damage and breakage.
Talk to your gas company about installing an automatic
shutoff valve on your gas or central heating equipment. This will allow the gas
connection to shut off on its own if it detects any strong vibrations in the
ground. In case tragedy does happens, your gas connection won’t start leaking,
meaning further hazards can be avoided.
If there are any overhead lights or fans in your home, make
sure they are secured to the permanent structure of your home. This will ensure
that these heavy fixtures do not fall and hurt someone.
Store objects around the home so that the inhabitants are
safe in case there is a natural disaster. If there are heavy things, place them
on the lower shelf so they don’t fall down or break. The same goes for
breakable china and glass. Store them in shelves and cupboards that can be
bolted shut.
Even after you’ve taken all the necessary precautions, you
cannot completely ensure that you or your family won’t be at risk next time an
earthquake happens. In order to account for such situations, agree upon an
effective plan. The plan should decide a safe place to meet in case some of the
family members are outside of the house when an earthquake happens. A good idea
is to also invest in a security system that can lock the house once you
evacuate, that way you can prevent any break-ins or intrusions before you and
your family have come back.
Following these important measures will most definitely prepare your house to survive through an earthquake, as well as keeping your family members safe from any harm in case of such a horrible occurrence!
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Created on Mar 2nd 2018 04:00. Viewed 511 times.