View Full Version : California Building Codes
Methanolandbrats
02-23-05, 01:09 PM
Are there any? Or do they let you build anywhere you want to and then collect the property tax? While watching the current round of disasters, I noticed building "sites" that would not fly in areas I'm familiar with.
It's hard to understand the mentality out there. Waaay overpriced homes hanging on cliffs covered with dirt with brush to hold the soil down. When the seasonal Santa Ana winds start blowing, it dries the brush out making it a perfect fuel for the inevitable fire started by a (lit cigarette thrown from a car, improperly distinguished campfire, arsonist, insert your popular fire starting method here.) Even if the house survives the fire, the brush holding the dirt on the hillside is gone and then it's a matter of the seasonal rains saturating the soil and whoosh! Mud slide surfing. Of course, this whole scenario is moot if a 7.0 quake or greater strikes, the house collapses and THEN slides down the hill. It must be the weather. ;)
and what's with people living in slab homes and mobile homes in Oklahoma and Kansas? WTF, you might as well walk down the middle of a set of railroad tracks with a set of Sony Walkmans on and the volume up full blast. :shakehead
Who am I kidding anyway. I'm ready to move to Panama City Beach Florida within the next few years and roll the dice each year with Hurricanes. :D
Everyone thinks everyone else is crazy for living where they live. Earthquakes, tornadoes, mudslides, IRL fans, hurricanes, floods, fires, terrorist threats.
California building codes have changed over the years, but many places were built before strict earthquake codes. A lot of retrofitting in CA has taken place, and is still happening.
Methanolandbrats
02-23-05, 02:40 PM
Everyone thinks everyone else is crazy for living where they live. Earthquakes, tornadoes, mudslides, IRL fans, hurricanes, floods, fires, terrorist threats.
California building codes have changed over the years, but many places were built before strict earthquake codes. A lot of retrofitting in CA has taken place, and is still happening. That makes sense. A lot of that stuff is grandfathered in.
racer2c
02-23-05, 03:01 PM
I was watching Great Marvels on the History Channel this morning about the building of the San Fran Bay Bridges. They said earthquake experts predict a 6.7 or greater earthquake in the Bay area within the next 25 years.
The Bay Bridge is being replaced for this reason as we speak. It's WAY over budget and there is lots of infighting with the Governator and Bay Area groups. Arnold wants a cheaper (questionable), standard bridge. The artist rendering is pretty ugly. Bay Area folks would rather spend more on something worthy of the SF skyline.
You may remember video of the 1989 quake (during the Giants/A's World Series), where the bridge section collapsed and a car drove right into the gap? That was the Bay Bridge.
I was watching Great Marvels on the History Channel this morning
Telecommuting rocks!
:laugh:
racer2c
02-23-05, 03:30 PM
Telecommuting rocks!
:laugh:
;) :D
oddlycalm
02-23-05, 03:42 PM
That makes sense. A lot of that stuff is grandfathered in. Not only that, but it was built when the overall weather patterns were quite different. Cali has had record rainfall more recent winters than just this one. This year they have been getting the storms that fire out of the Gulf of Alaska that normally hit Washington and Oregon every 8hrs or so all winter. There will be a severe drought in the Northwest to accompany the tall brush in California. Most meteorologist seem to be blaming global warming. :(
An footnote to this weather pattern was a lecture I attended last week where Steward Brand, futurist and one of the fathers of the environmental movement, was calling for a fast track program of (relatively) inexpensive gravel bed nuclear reactors to replace fossil fuel power generation. Turns out that massive air pollution from China is fanning out across the Northern Pacific and is rapidly changing the climate patterns just as greenhouse gas from the US is changing the North Atlantic. His point was that cooling (killing) of either or both of the warm Gulf Stream or Japanese currents would result in disaster for the West coast of the US and a climate much like the Falklands for the UK and parts of Northern Europe.
oc
IlliniRacer
02-23-05, 03:59 PM
I currently live Alton, IL along the mighty Mississippi. We moved here in May of 1993. I remember driving up the River Road thinking; "If these houses have to be on stilts, maybe their too close to the river." Lo and behold, a month later the Great Flood of '93 hit.
Now, whether I'm buying a new house or re-financing my current one, someone looks at a map, sees my house firmly on the bluffs and says "Nope, you don't need mandatory flood insurance. That will be $75, please."
Austin, TX
no quakes, no slides, no 'canes, no twisters, no floods, no nothing.
pwn3d.:D
Austin, TX
no quakes, no slides, no 'canes, no twisters, no floods, no nothing.
pwn3d.:D
from the City of Austin website:
"Central Texas is often called "Flash Flood Alley" because of its frequent, intense storms. The "big ones" seem to happen every decade. The major floods of Austin described below have left a lasting impression in people's memories and in the record books"
1991:
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/watershed/images/flood1991.jpg
1981:
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/watershed/images/flood1981.jpg
that's what the new dams are for :D There's 7 of em now starting right below the city to far upriver. Living outside the city out in the hill country and you're susceptible to flash floods though. Down by the city and you're good.
Hm, I didn't know that. I lived in Central Texas in the early 90s.
Tifosi24
02-23-05, 04:57 PM
Dams just slow the inevitable. There will always be something bigger than what it was designed for. Next time I am home I should take a picture of the Mile Long Bridge up at Saylorville near Des Moines. They said there would never be a flood that would reach the road bed. But in 1993 the water got up there and they had to close it for a week I believe. I showed my girlfriend and she still thinks I am lying.
After working in building inspection, even though there are rules on the books for where you can build something, many times there are previsions for variances. Many city councils and county governments aren't as foreword thinking (or logical) as many of their constituents (sp?).
Anteater
02-23-05, 04:57 PM
An footnote to this weather pattern was a lecture I attended last week where Steward Brand, futurist and one of the fathers of the environmental movement, was calling for a fast track program of (relatively) inexpensive gravel bed nuclear reactors to replace fossil fuel power generation. Turns out that massive air pollution from China is fanning out across the Northern Pacific and is rapidly changing the climate patterns just as greenhouse gas from the US is changing the North Atlantic. His point was that cooling (killing) of either or both of the warm Gulf Stream or Japanese currents would result in disaster for the West coast of the US and a climate much like the Falklands for the UK and parts of Northern Europe.
oc
:eek: Thanks for sharing!
Tifosi24
02-23-05, 04:59 PM
What is the weather like in the Falklands anyways? I have never studied them in depths. Hopefully this weather pattern won't take away all the nice snow we get up here in the Upper Midwest, because the 3 out of 4 winters have been terrible for snow here.
racer2c
02-23-05, 06:22 PM
What is the weather like in the Falklands anyways? I have never studied them in depths. Hopefully this weather pattern won't take away all the nice snow we get up here in the Upper Midwest, because the 3 out of 4 winters have been terrible for snow here.
Like Minnasota.
:D
RacinM3
02-23-05, 06:44 PM
What do building codes have to do with building site selection? The UBC and California adaptations of it (mainly for seismic zones 3 and 4) don't dictate where something can be built, just how it can be built. If you want to build your house on the side of a cliff, the code just tells you how it should be built and references the structural requirements based upon the type of material the house is built on.
I think your problem lies with local jurisdiction building departments, not the building code. Locals BD's have basically taken a "don't care" attitude. Build it wherever you want, it's your money and land, just pay us our fees and we'll make sure the city gets it's yearly allotment of your property taxes.
People want views. People want to feel they live outside a city-type area. Around here, that means you head for the hills. Just be prepared for the inevitable fires, floods, and slides, and hope your place doesn't get taken out.
The funny part is how these people react when their house slides down a hill, or is threatened by a hill sliding from above. They all run around complaining that the state should be doing something about it. Like WHAT? :rolleyes: :shakehead
Like WHAT? Flatten it. You want a view, get a TV. :p
Flatten it. You want a view, get a TV. :p
now now, we don't want to turn California into Houston :gomer:
Austin, TX
no nothing.
Just 108 in the shade...but it's a dry heat. :shakehead No thanks.
-Kevin
Austin, TX
...no nothing.
Exactly. :gomer:
Austin?
That place sucks. They spend all my money.
indyfan31
02-23-05, 09:02 PM
Not only that, but it was built when the overall weather patterns were quite different. Cali has had record rainfall more recent winters than just this one. This year they have been getting the storms that fire out of the Gulf of Alaska that normally hit Washington and Oregon every 8hrs or so all winter. There will be a severe drought in the Northwest to accompany the tall brush in California. Most meteorologist seem to be blaming global warming. :( oc
The last series of storm has all been from the south. Coincidentally this is our third wettest year since they started keeping records. The L.A. area has received about 34 inches of rain this season and it's not over until about June. There are places in the San Gabriel Moutains that have received 60inches. In fact, it looks like this season will take over the #2 spot before it's over.
oddlycalm
02-23-05, 09:18 PM
I remember driving up the River Road thinking; "If these houses have to be on stilts, maybe their too close to the river." I know exactly where you mean, and some of them are damn here in the river even during low water. Nothing real fancy either, looked like your low cost and recycled housing. A lot of those stilts where actually above the road grade as I recall, so even if your place survived, you weren't going anywhere without a boat till summer. Used to be in the area to see Olin Brass and others. So how did they fare during the flood....? :eek:
oc
No problem. You lived out of a pop-up camper or a tent for 3 months till the water receded enough to go back into the house and hose it out. A week with box fans in all the windows to dry it out and then back to paradise living on the banks of the Mississippi. :gomer:
BTW, I was in a subdivision in a town about 40 miles south of IlliniRacer in '03, the water just kept rising little by little till we had to sandbag. Before it was over, the water crested about 4 foot deep in my house. That house is gone now, bought out by our city and their very aggressive flood plain management program. I guess you could say I've suffered through a natural disaster and came out of it pretty good.
Just 108 in the shade...but it's a dry heat. :shakehead No thanks.
-Kevin
108? you yanks sure do smoke good cheeba :gomer: btw: you can keep your flu inducing yankee snow and shove it :p I'm STILL not 100% since my PA visit.
Austin? They spend all my money. but Governer Aggy is going to make things better by taxing strip clubs and putting in the superhighway from hell :flame:
Methanolandbrats
02-23-05, 10:37 PM
108? you yanks sure do smoke good cheeba :gomer: btw: you can keep your flu inducing yankee snow and shove it :p I'm STILL not 100% since my PA visit. Yall can't do this in Texas! :) http://www.w-a-g.org/images/main/P1000252.JPG
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