The sprawling city of Los Angeles is made up of many diverse suburbs, such as Mission Hills. When the community was first developed in the early 1950’s it was known as Dennis Park. Later in 1965, residents voted to change the name to represent the historic San Fernando Mission located within the city’s boundaries. While Mission Hills is one of LA’s nicer suburbs, a large part of the residential area is made up of older apartment buildings. Like most suburbs and towns bordering the City of Angels, residents have seen their fair share of earthquakes. Which is why the city created their mandatory seismic retrofit program. To prevent the destruction and lives lost in the Northridge Earthquake of 1994. If you receive a notice to comply by the city you need to hire a Mission Hills soft-story retrofit contractor today. Understanding the soft-story policies Mission Hills is largely considered to be a part of the city of Los Angeles and must follow the city’s building codes. After the Northridge Earthquake, it was decided that many types of buildings would need to be retrofitted in able withstand future seismic events. While it has taken city officials some time to work out all the details, there is now a soft-story mandatory retrofit program in place. A soft story building has three or more stories and is built over a ground level which includes open space, like a parking garage. The ground level would have doors and windows. In essence, an older soft story building does not have enough bottom support to withstand a major earthquake. There are many possibilities to retrofit a soft story building. A retrofit contractor in Mission Hills will be needed to help you understand your options and survey your building to decide what will work best for your property. The amount of work that needs to be done will depend on what the contractor finds in the initial assessment. They may need to create or reinforce the number of shear walls in the bottom of a building. Parking garages can also be targeted, as they may need stronger beams, or more columns, to prop up the floors above. Completing the process You will need to hire a Mission Hills soft-story retrofit contractor who knows the area, the building codes, and has a history of seismic retrofits. Once the initial assessment is done, they will create a work plan and help you choose the best options to get the job completed according to your building’s needs. As the owner, you will get to make the important decisions, but remember that your building needs to follow the new city ordinances. Once a plan for the retrofitting has been decided on, the work can begin. Your retrofitting contractor should work hard to complete the job on time with a minimum disruption to your neighbors. Noise should be kept to a minimum and work hours shouldn’t interfere with night time. Once the job has been completed, city engineers will come out to do the final inspection. Each building needs to pass this inspection as part of the soft story retrofit program. Once your building’s retrofit has taken place, you can rest easy knowing that everything will be protected, including precious lives, in the event of another massive earthquake. You should contact one of RetroFitting 360’s contractors who will be happy to answer any questions you may have.