Building Connections Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections

Building Connections

Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections news and events

Fixing the Bricks: Director’s Rule Proposes Alternate Method for Retrofit of Unreinforced Masonry Buildings (URMs)

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In June, SDCI conducted two public webinars on the draft Unreinforced Masonry (URM) Retrofit Technical Standard. This document is the first step in establishing minimum seismic standards for the earthquake retrofit of Seattle’s 1,100 vintage brick buildings which are prone to collapse in an earthquake due to lack of structural reinforcements. The draft URM Retrofit Technical Standard will inform the future mandatory retrofit ordinance. Be sure to check out the slides and recordings from these presentations.  

To support building owners that are eager to begin the retrofit process, SDCI is moving forward with adopting components of the draft URM Retrofit Technical Standard with Director’s Rule 6-2023,  Alternate Method for the Seismic Improvement of Unreinforced Masonry Buildings (URMs). The draft Director’s Rule is available now for public comment.

Updated Earthquake Home Retrofit Plan Set

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The Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) has updated the prescriptive earthquake home retrofit plan set! We are now using an updated drawing plan set that has been approved by the Washington Association of Building Officials (WABO) and uploaded to our website. The same plan set is already being used in several local jurisdictions, including Auburn, Bellevue, and King County. Visit WABO’s website for more home retrofit resources.