San Francisco Soft Story Retrofit Process: An Insight

San Francisco has passed an ordinance recently called the Soft Story Ordinance San Francisco, which calls for a seismic retrofit for all the buildings that currently exist and have been identified as having a potential hazard of soft-story…especially the first floor.  San Francisco is definitely not the first city to come up with this kind of an ordinance but is the largest one to do so.  

In order to get a clearer picture we need to first understand what is meant by soft story.  A few buildings do not have enough seismic sustenance capacity and generally it is the first floor that is more susceptible to hazards during such natural calamity.  The first floor is often termed the weak story or the soft story.  It is the first story that does not show adequate seismic strength during an earthquake.  Glass front walls, under parking areas are also considered to be good examples of these.

 

One should understand that not all buildings have the soft stories that are seismically deficient.  The newer ones are in compliance with the latest building codes and of course will sustain the seismic event successfully.  The ordinance applies to all those buildings that have been built before 1978 and are three stories tall and have more than five dwelling units.

The seismic retrofits are accomplished in phases with over 7years span during which the entire program would get concluded.  HCSE is one such structural engineering company that can offer the right engineering and expertise to accomplish the retrofit for San Francisco Soft Story buildings.  The professionals will run a seismic analysis of the structure and ascertain the kind of retrofit that is required.

Structural Engineering Companies: What do they offer?

Structural engineering companies work towards offering innovative solutions in design and engineering of structures, and these structures could vary in their magnitude and range from large commercial structures to small residential units.  As building structures involves a lot of money, it is essential that you get it right the very first time.  So, before you actually get into the job, it is ideal that you have a blueprint ready with you, with the help of which things would move faster.  Structural engineering companies house licensed engineers as well as design professionals who are highly qualified and can deliver to individual needs of the clients.

  

Whether it is new construction of a residential unit or a remodeling of a residential unit, giving it a few additions in terms of structure, or getting the residential unit a seismic retrofit, you will need the services of structural engineers.  When you have some work of such nature pending, it is better that you hire the services of professional structural engineering companies SanFrancisco who will take care of all the things from the scratch.

A professional company will offer structural inspections services too for commercial projects and residential projects addressing the issues that may arise in structures.  BIM…building information modeling has emerged to be a very important field in structural engineering renovation.  These are the services that are offered by a professional structuring engineering company.  HCSE is one such structural engineering company that offers services in design and BIM consulting.  With the 3D modeling that you can get on hand, it becomes easy to schedule the time and also estimate the resources available.

BIM Services: The benefits of Availing them

For a layman, it is essential to understand what BIM actually is so that he can understand what BIM services are.  BIM stands for Building Information Model which is nothing but a digital representation in 3D and brings along with it a whole lot of intrinsic characteristics.  This comprises of parametric rules for each and every component and also data attributes of the building components.  Through BIM one can achieve coordinated and consistent views as well as representations of the models too.  As a result, the designer is saved of a lot of his time.  In short, BIM has found to act as a bridge in reducing the communication gap between the designing and building industry members.

BIM services San Francisco comprise of BIM consulting and BIM training services.  Through this innovative technique the experts can enhance the entire construction process as there is a clear three dimensional representation of the physical characteristics of the building or the structure that is being constructed.

The Top Benefits of BIM are

• BIM Reduces Rework
• BIM Improves Productivity
• BIM Reduces Conflicts and Changes During Construction
• Clash Detection and Avoiding Rework 

When you have the BIM Services in place, you can be assured of having a clear and concise picture of the projects.  Building and construction are such fields which rely heavily on communication.  And when this does not go through proper channel and that too in a clear manner, a lot of chaos can happen.  So, BIM is touted as a very valuable resource because it is found to bridge the communication gap through the three dimensional representation.  That is the reason why architecture firms and engineering firms are urged more and more to use this kind of a resource…to experience the benefits it brings along.