Options For Earthquake Bracing For Manufactured Homes

By Patrick Evans


Mobile homes are at the highest risk of damage during an earthquake due to their lightweight. Therefore, state authorities in earthquake-prone areas demand that such buildings should use the right bracing methods to protect themselves from damage. This article provides various types of earthquake bracing for manufactured homes to consider.

Rely on shear walls. Shear walls are vertical structures installed between walls to create enough strength that can stand seismic movements. The walls are either placed as flagged sections or as planes. You can put them up at the center of a wall to cut down on your expenses. Such an approach is quite rare, but it is ideal for someone with a limited budget and a place with low seismic rates.

Choose the sill plates. Sill plates have been common over time. They are horizontal structures which offer attachment bases for vertical members to create reinforcement against lateral movements. Timber has been a common material for these structures, but modern constructors are adopting other cost-effective materials. You can have the still plates custom made with the prefabricated walls from the factory.

Consider using braced frames. The braced structure is ideal for preventing lateral movement of a house during a seismic movement. Their functionality is similar to trusses and shear wall. However, it involves vertical blocks attached to the walls to make them stronger. You can rely on ordinary or special braced frame depending on the level of seismic movement in your area.

Decide on isolation panels. Isolation panels are quite useful when it comes to reducing the lateral movement caused by earthquakes. In this case, they tend to delink the house from the earth which reduces movement of the house during an earthquake. Most isolation panels use units and components to make them useful. Units work as the decoupling items while the components connect them to make them effective.

Use the pier structure. Most mobile homes rely on the pier structure. It offers protection from an earthquake by creating a separation of the house with the earth surface. The pier structure has components that hold the house to avoid free movement during an earthquake. The piers have a footing attached to the ground which offers extra support to the docks.

Use the rigid framing technique. These are load resisting skeletons interconnected by rigid connections. They resist any force created at the joints of their members. They offer the stiffness needed to withstand movements during an earthquake. Constructors use two assumptions to the behavior of a building frame to determine whether to use this structure. These assumptions include that the beams are free to change and structural frames do not change under any load due to their connection.

Even though there are a lot of options to consider, homeowners must consider a couple of things to make this process a success. The best procedure involves acquainting with the maximum seismic rating in your area and choose a bracing method that can withstand such force. Besides that, look for a professional contractor who can manage to employ your favorite method effectively.




About the Author:



Grab The Post URL

URL:
HTML link code:
BB (forum) link code:

Leave a comment

  • Google+
  • 0Blogger
  • Facebook
  • Disqus

0 Response to "Options For Earthquake Bracing For Manufactured Homes"

Post a Comment

comments powered by Disqus