A greater number of homeowners can take advantage of pre-designed solutions for bracing their homes against earthquake damage with the newly revised home retrofit prescriptive plans offered by DCLU.

Providing their structure qualifies, homeowners will also be able to obtain the necessary building permit(s) more quickly and easily.

Primary Changes in the Revised Prescriptive Plans

• A new table that includes revisions to reduce bracing requirements.
• New details that address cantilevering.
• The questions for determining eligibility are now on both the prescriptive plans and Booklet Two of the retrofit series (“How to Complete the Home Assessment Checklist”)
• Other, more minor, changes have also been made.

While it is still possible to use older prescriptive plans and the previous version of Booklet Two, the newer requirements apply where there are conflicts with the older documents.

DCLU: Working with Regional Partners

Since Seattle’s home retrofitting program began in October 1998, hundreds of voluntary retrofit permits have been issued. The program is now regional, with partners throughout the central Puget Sound area. The differences between Seattle and its regional partners are that:

• Permit fees vary between the participating jurisdictions.
• DCLU requires the use of the large 3-page set of plans; other regional partners use an 11”X17" version. The details are the same in both formats, except for the detail for new foundations.
• Seattle has an exception requiring foundation designs to be different than allowed in other jurisdictions.