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Excavate small trench along interior concrete foundation

Excavate small trench along interior concrete foundation


  #1  
Old 10-05-11, 09:44 PM
J
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Excavate small trench along interior concrete foundation

I want to earthquake retrofit my crawlspace, but certain areas are just too tight to get to. Is it ok to dig down along the interior of the concrete foundation wall? I don't know how deep the concrete wall is, but I presume that I'll get to a footing after a few feet or so. I definitely don't intend to dig down any further than the footer, but I'm concerned that doing any digging at all along the foundation wall could weaken it. Is there any recommendation suggesting that your concrete foundation needs to have soil covering it for a X number of feet etc?
 
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Old 10-06-11, 04:51 AM
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Out of curiosity, what is "earthquake retrofitting"? You can dig down as far as the footing without problems. I would not dig further, as the footing is putting vertical as well as horizontal pressure on the soil to keep it in place.
 
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Old 10-06-11, 03:39 PM
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Chandler, thanks for your answer.

Earthquake retrofitting is -
1. Bolting mud sill to concrete foundation
2. Adding plywood to cripple wall.
3. Adding shear transfer ties to joists.
 
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Old 10-06-11, 05:46 PM
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Hokay! 1. all sills are bolted to foundations unless someone gets away with those puky straps.
2. Plywood sheathing is supposed to be placed on all exterior walls. Is that what you are talking about?
3. dunno. Not acquainted with them, unless you are talking about joist hangers.
 
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Old 10-06-11, 05:59 PM
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What he is talking about is not done in Georgia. It is quite a bit more robust than simply bolting the sill to the foundation. Sounds like Jimmy's house is an old one and doesn't have plywood sheathing. The earthquake retrofit also requires a certain nailing pattern for the shear wall. There was a small article in Fine Homebuilding recently talking about earthquake retrofit and shear walls. Very interesting for those of us who don't live in earthquake country.

How it Works: Shear Walls - Fine Homebuilding Article
 
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Old 10-08-11, 07:20 AM
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Good link. Gotta keep learning. Hey, we had an earthquake a few years ago. Sounded like sound barrier intrusion, but no earth movement. I think it was located closer to Marksr and Wirepuller38 in NE Tenn. But that's why I was asking, as I had never heard of "retrofitting" for an earthquake. I was under the impression it had to be done from the get-go.
 
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Old 10-08-11, 07:51 AM
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We just had an earthquake last August. Lots of shaking going on.
 
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Old 10-09-11, 05:29 PM
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This page does a very good explanation of the earthquake retrofitting that I want to do.

Bay Area Seismic Retrofit | How Retrofit Works
 
 

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