Training Materials for Seismic Retrofit of Wood-Frame Homes

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has funded the development of extensive materials to train contractors and building inspectors on how to perform common earthquake retrofits for single family homes. These materials are used in the contractor and building inspector training sponsored by ABAG.

The materials include both a Manual and a slide presentation. The ENTIRE Manual is available as Adobe Acrobat files, and via ftp as MS Word files. The slide presentations are available as html presentations, and via ftp as PowerPoint files.

SLIDE PRESENTATION - These files can be used directly with your browser and DO NOT require PowerPoint to view. There are a total of 242 slides, charts and diagrams showing earthquake damage to wood-frame homes and both proper and improper retrofit techniques. Notes from the Instructor's Guide are included with the slides.

Chapter 1 - Introduction (10 slides)
Chapter 2 - Earthquake Basics (24 slides)
Chapter 3 - Shear Walls (67 slides)
Chapter 4 - Connections (45 slides)
Chapter 5 - Foundations (19 slides)
Chapter 6 - Retrofitting Post and Pier Houses (13 slides)
Chapter 7 - Non-Structural Elements (15 slides)
Chapter 8 - Safety and Legal (48 slides)

TRAINING MANUAL - You can view and print this training manual with Adobe Acrobat 3.0 . It's free, and you can download it directly from Adobe with this link. You DO NOT need MS Word.

Outside Cover
Inside Cover
About the Training Course
Table of Contents
Table of Figures
Chapter 1 - Introduction AND Chapter 2 - Earthquake Basics
Chapter 3 - Shear Walls (Part 1 of 2)
Chapter 3 - Shear Walls (Part 2 of 2)
Chapter 4 - Connections
Chapter 5 - Foundations
Chapter 6 - Retrofitting Post and Pier Houses
Chapter 7 - Non-Structural Elements
Chapter 8 - Safety and Legal
Appendix A - City of Los Angeles Prescriptive Standard
Appendix B - Real Estate Disclosure Requirements
Appendix C - Full Scale Nail Charts
Appendix D - Pre-Drilled Hole Sizes
Appendix E - Partial Perimeter Details
Appendix F - Water Heater Bracing Illustrations
Appendix G - Home Improvement Contract Form
Appendix H - Legal Aspects of Construction Administration
Appendix I - What Did You Learn (Quiz)

TRAINING MATERIAL ARCHIVE - These are links to directories on ABAG's ftp site where the original Word files are stored and can be downloaded. NOTE: The Word files use fonts that are not common. Although ABAG has embedded substitute fonts prior to posting, unusual formatting may show up in some places if you do not have the specific fonts used in the original document.

Archive of Manual as Word files

This page was last updated 12/2/09 by jbp.