Soft story retrofitting in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and West Hollywood are not just recommended, they are required by Law! Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and West Hollywood now have the nation's toughest seismic building codes in the nation.. Los Angeles City Soft Story retrofit Ordinance 183893 and 184081 detail which structures are affected. The city of West Hollywood passed Ordinance 17-1004 and Ordinance 17-1011 bringing new seismic requirements for seismic retrofitting within their municipality. This year the city council of Santa Monica passed Ordinance 2537 to require seismic retrofitting of buildings that are at-risk of collapsing during an earthquake. Soft-Story Retrofit Pros has been a California licensed contractor for more than 15 years. We pride ourselves as your learning center when considering a major construction project.

Los Angeles City Soft Story retrofit Ordinance 183893 and 184081 detail which structures are affected. Soft story structures designed and approved prior to 1979 are considered weak by current engineering standards. A considerable amount of soft story buildings were constructed between 1960 – 1979. These structures have the propensity of experiencing catastrophically damaged in the event of a major earthquake. Soft story structures have failed during significant seismic activity. They are weak because they have un-reinforced openings on the ground floor which caused far more movement than the structure can withstand. When this happens, resulting in the upper floors COLLAPSING on top of the lower levels.

The weakest parts of the building are structurally reinforced to be able to resist seismic movement during an earthquake. In many cases structural steel connectors and I-beams are used. In most cases glue-lam beams and steel connection hardware are used to carry strengthen the weak sections of a structure.

Soft-story buildings have "tuck-in" parking on the first floor.

According to the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety Property Owners Guide, you need to submit proof of previous retrofit, plans to retrofit, or plans to demolish within 2 years of receiving the Order to Comply. This might be different for West Hollywood and Santa Monica, so you’ll want to make sure to check your notice letter. As of December 2018 - all notice letters for the city of Los Angeles have been mailed out. Did you NOT receive a notice letter? We have access to the entire soft-story retrofit list - call us and we will let you know if you are on the list.