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Cob: Seismic EffectsJohn Fordice otherfish at home.comThu Mar 1 20:02:56 CST 2001
To John G. & all cobbers, The seismic event in Washington yesterday points out the need to take earthquakes seriously, no matter where you are, when you build with cob. Western Oregon, Washington & B.C. all fall into the Uniform Building Code classification of Earthquake Zone 3. While this is not as severe as the Zone 4 classification in California, it is still a high risk zone. For other areas of a less sever classification, the risk is still there in that there may be unknown faults which could be the source otherwise unexpected earthquakes. When it comes to building with a heavy and non flexible material like earth, it is best ( in my opinion ) to be safe rather than sorry. An earthquake is potentially possible no matter where you build on the planet. So don't mess around - build safe. Pushing the envelope is fine, but do it in a way that won't kill you or somebody else who just happens to be in your building. I'm hopeful that John's query brings info to the list that helps us to see that cob in Western North America has shown itself to indeed be earthquake safe & how this was attained. For anyone who is interested, I posted to the list recently about this & how it is relatively easy to include earthquake stability elements in your cob building. This can be found in the Archive or I'll repost it if requested. cob on john fordice maker of cobbers thumbs TCCP > John Gorman wrote: > > Are there any owners/caretakers of cob structures in the Pacific > Northwest that can speak to how the buildings survived the temblor > yesterday? I am especially interested in knowing about buildings in > the Seattle/Olympia area, which was near the epicenter. Also, if you > could speak about the foundation type and any structural strengthening > aspects your building may have that would give a more complete > picture. > Thanx > John, > Portland, OR > >
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