General Guidelines for the Assessment and Repair of Earthquake Damage in Residential Woodframe Buildings

These Guidelines summarize the process and details of assessment and repair of common types of earthquake damage in typical residential woodframe buildings. The objectives are to provide owners, contractors, insurance claim representatives (adjusters), and others with a basic understanding of earthquake effects on buildings and guidance for:
• efficient and accurate identification of earthquake damage,
• selection of appropriate repairs for damage that can be reliably identified and appropriately repaired by qualified tradesmen without the assistance of a technical consultant,
• identification of those conditions for which the assistance of a technical consultant may be necessary for the accurate assessment and repair of damage, and
• interaction with technical consultants.

A companion, in-depth technical document, Engineering Guidelines for the Assessment and Repair of Earthquake Damage in Residential Woodframe Buildings, CUREE Publication No. EDA-06 is in progress. The intended audience of that document is technical consultants such as engineers and architects who may become involved in post-earthquake damage assessment of woodframe buildings. A draft version of that document is available on the CUREE website.

These Guidelines have been motivated by inconsistencies in the earthquake damage assessment process in the aftermath of recent earthquakes in California. While some of the detail and references are California-centric, the general principles and methodology are generally applicable throughout the United States.