Kendale's Studio

[len-morgan]

Glad to hear you made it through ok, Kendale. I know what "taking a ride on Mother Nature" can be like. I was about 20 miles away from the epicenter of the 1989 quake in San Francisco. It was a "fun" few days.

len

[camistan]

WOW!
Kendale, glad to see you or your family weren't injured! I'll Pray that no other unseen "damage" has occured to your house.

You know I always wondered something...When there's a Tornado we're always told to go to a basement or a room with no windows etc etc. When an earthquake occurs, what's the safety method for that? I would assume it's to go outside, but I wonder if that's even right. It would surely seem that staying inside wouldn't be the thing to do...the pics say that. I'd like to know...what are you suppose to do?

Hey man...GOD speed to you and your family...

[sharward]

Growing up in California, the rule has always been to get under something sturdy, like a table or desk, or in a pinch, a doorway. I think this is primarily to protect oneself from falling debris, such as drywall or ceiling panels and fixtures. Also, flying glass. Yes, flying, because when buildings shake, windows often shatter and shards of glass can fly around.

Kendale, I immediately thought of you when I heard reports on the radio. I'm glad you and your family have fared well, relatively speaking. 6.7 is a powerful quake indeed.

Coincidentally, I was installing seismic ties on my ceiling joists when I heard the first reports.

Considering the magnitude of the quake, it's really a blessing that there were so few people hurt or killed.

I'm sure if building codes weren't so strict there, things would have been much worse, along the lines of Darfour last year or Mexico City in 1985. And the codes keep getting better, especially in the wake of the quakes in Loma Prieta in 1989 and Northridge in 1994.

Aloha

--Keith

[kendale]

Aloha,

Thanks guys.

I remember seeing the news coverage of the SF quake. Television doesn't do justice to actually being there. There is something decidedly odd when terra firma isn't firm. And even having gone through several fairly big ones here, it was sad to see the damage and loss of lives that y'all sustained.

According the USGS, we were 6 miles from the epicenter on the first one, and then 12 miles from the second aftershock. Mrs kendale is still a little jumpy from the ride.

In the event of an earthquake, FEMA suggests: http://www.fema.gov/hazard/earthquake/eq_during.shtm

Hmmm, we just had another 3.9 shake even as we speak , this one was 9 miles away. (according to the USGS site)

Better go for now,

Aloha

[knightfly]

I'm glad you came through it too - but as far as FEMA is concerned, (trying really hard here NOT to get political), I don't know if I'd pay much attention to their recommendations after the bang-up job they DIDN'T do at New Orleans

Best place to be in an earthquake - helicopter. Clear back in the 70's I was driving down the freeway south of San Francisco when one hit (a quake, not a helicopter :=) - the road ahead of me looked like someone had picked it up and tried to shake the dust out of it, like a throw-rug - can't believe the LACK of noticeable damage in that case, although there were only about 8% as many cars on the road as there are today. I still get sea-sick when I think about it.

Forgot to mention this before - I'm really glad you're so happy with your room - the fact that your mixes are translating that well and sounding so good is almost a shock to me, considering how many things tend to get lost in translation. Congrats on understanding what I MEANT, instead of what I SAID

There's a lot to be said for velchro bottoms on glassware... Steve

[sharward]

Best place to be in an earthquake - helicopter. Clear back in the 70's I was driving down the freeway south of San Francisco when one hit (a quake, not a helicopter :=) - the road ahead of me looked like someone had picked it up and tried to shake the dust out of it, like a throw-rug

That's utterly amazing, Steve! How in the world did you manage to time that?

I would love to sign up for an Earthquake Helicopter Tour.

Hey Kendale -- any chance that Blue Hawaiian will be offering those anytime soon?

--Keith

[knightfly]

Just to clear up any confusion, I wasn't IN a helicopter at the time; I was DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD. Still not sure how anyone survived this, the entire freeway "rippled" somewhere between 6" and a foot peak to peak, and EVERYBODY JUST KEPT DRIVING.

To this day, I wonder if I fell asleep and dreamed it - except I talked to others who were on the road at the same time

[sharward]

That's like the fourth time I've been caught on here reading stuff too fast... ...Man. That's not like me.

--Keith

[kendale]

Earthquake Update - October 30, 2006

Aloha,

Well, today was an interesting day!

Mrs kendale got me up to let me know that the American Red Cross reps were heading our way to assess our situation and offered to help us get started with the repairs to the house. Mahalo plenty, guys!

Then, about 10 minutes before they left, the County Building Inspector for the Kona area pulls up to take a look under the hood (floor/foundation). I noticed that when I opened the door to the lower regions, he didn't jump right in. Instead he looked at the post/pier footings, joists, & braces before stepping in after me. Hmmm...

When he finally did take the plunge, he followed me down the length of the house, pointing out that the floor joists were spaced a little further apart than he liked (32" OC), but mentioned that certain subfloor plys are designed to work with that spacing.

I mentioned to him that mrs kendale & I have noticed that the house is considerably more sensitive to the still-occurring aftershocks, trucks passing by, and me and the dog marching across the floors at all hours of the day (and night!)

He suggested that installing additional joists @ 16" OC would help eliminate any recently acquired flexing of the subflooring.

After all was said and done, he said that the house/foundation/framing was safe for habitation and gave us the "Green Placard" seal of approval. Cool.

Next up, was a meeting in Waimea (25 minutes way) with FEMA to address the earthquake mitigation situation. I had taken a bunch of pics for the FEMA rep, and he walked me through several ways to tighten up the house. He agreed with the Building Inspector about adding the extra floor joists, and suggested straps, ties, and clips, as well as reorienting a few braces and places where more was needed. (We discovered several hours later that there was a 3.6 (minor) tremor while we were there.) Nice!

We then drove down to Kona (45 minutes) to Lowe's to price out lumber, clips, straps, & ties to see what kind of $$$ shock we were in for. There were several areas along the way where the highway shoulders had disappeared in the October 15 quake.

There was a voice message when we got home from the Red Cross saying they would like to stop by in the morning to go over a few more things with us.

After that, it's back to crawling around under the house to tighten up the post & pier bolts, estimating how many new joists we'll be needing, and then figure out how many straps, ties & clips we need to tie everything together.

More later...

Aloha

[sharward]

That's wonderful news overall, Kendale! Thanks for updating us!

I know I'd sure love to see pictures of your remediation if and when you get time to post them.

--Keith

[kendale]

Aloha,

Thanks for the encouragement, Keith.

It's a pretty weird situation to walk through. Even though I've been through several big quakes before, I've not had the responsibility of family & home ownership to deal with before. It does cause one's perspective to change a bit.

We had the FEMA building inspector stop by yesterday, and he pretty much said the same thing as the County inspector: "habitable, but needing repair."

So we're waiting on a SBA packet, and if we dont qualify there, then we look into the FEMA process.

In the meantime, at first glance, it appears that we need to install 38 - 2" x 10" x 12' joists overlapped over the center girder and then blocked. We are awaiting a visit from my contractor friend (the same one that installed the cloud) to see what/where/whom we need to contact.

Aloha

[sharward]

Is SBA "Small Business Administration"?

I take it you don't have earthquake insurance, right?

For those of you who don't live in earthquake country -- "regular" homeowners' insurance does not cover earthquakes or flood. Those are separate policies that must be purchased, and they can be very expensive and very limiting too.

I have a coworker whose Northridge house was nearly ruined back in 1994. He had no earthquake insurance, like so many others. The FEMA inspector said his house was the most badly earthqake damaged he had ever seen that was still on its foundation. He ended up with a fat six figure low interest FEMA loan to make major repairs, which took about nine months as I recall. Adding insult to injury was the fact that he had a neighbor down the street in a very similar situation, but in far worse financial shape (they stole the equity out of their house to buy cars, boats, etc.), and they ended up with a grant that required no repayment.

My wife and I carry federal flood insurance, but we don't carry earthquake insurance. (Sacramento is one of the least earthquake prone areas in California.)

You're definitely taking this thing in stride, Kendale... But, then again, that's what you guys do so well over there!

"'O ka Maluhia no me 'oe."
("Peace be with you.")

--Keith

[kendale]

Aloha Keith,

Is SBA "Small Business Administration"? I take it you don't have earthquake insurance, right?

You are correct; we do not have earthquake insurance. As a matter of fact, there are very few people that do out here. I've heard several reasons/opinions/rumors/speculations as to why that is, but the fact of the matter in our case is that our agent does not offer earthquake insurance. Neither do we have flood insurance, but we do have home owners and limited hurricane insurance available. Again, more reasons/opinions/rumors/speculations as to why that is.

You're definitely taking this thing in stride, Kendale... But, then again, that's what you guys do so well over there!

We have a couple of sayings out here: "If can, can...if no can, no can" and "No rain, no rainbows."

Either way, both the American Red Cross and FEMA reps out here have been very supportive and encouraging. I think too many times we only hear/read of some of the shortcomings of relief programs, and not enough of the good that they do accomplish. Mahalo plenty to both of these organizations!

Aloha

[sharward]

Folks, please give to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. By making a financial gift, the Red Cross can provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need. Every little bit helps... And big bits help even more.




--Keith

[kendale]

Earthquake Updates

Aloha,

Had a contractor stop by today to take a look at the work needed to be done installing additional floor joists. He said he'd check to see if he had an opening in his already backlogged schedule, the labor available, and would call in a couple of days with an estimate for materials & labor.

Also got half of the shelving back up in the garage that had come down. It's been a good time to rearrange the layout to allow more of a woodworking workspace for the second cloud when it happens down the road.

We've been having fewer tremors this past week than previously, and of lesser intensity; between 2.0 (micro) and 3.2 (minor). Hopefully everythings settling down a bit for now.

Aloha