Otherwise this whole wall could come down ....

 

How about a flying buttress

 

Is that your place, James?

 

quality piece of engineering

 

then where would I buy my crack?

 

CALIFORNIA GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 8875-8875.10
8875. Unless the context otherwise requires, the following
definitions shall govern the construction of this chapter:
(a) "Potentially hazardous building" means any building
constructed prior to the adoption of local building codes requiring
earthquake resistant design of buildings and constructed of
unreinforced masonry wall construction. "Potentially hazardous
building" includes all buildings of this type, including, but not
limited to, public and private schools, theaters, places of public
assembly, apartment buildings, hotels, motels, fire stations, police
stations, and buildings housing emergency services, equipment, or
supplies, such as government buildings, disaster relief centers,
communications facilities, hospitals, blood banks, pharmaceutical
supply warehouses, plants, and retail outlets. "Potentially
hazardous building" does not include warehouses or similar structures
not used for human habitation, except for warehouses or structures
housing emergency services equipment or supplies. "Potentially
hazardous building" does not include any building having five living
units or less. "Potentially hazardous building" does not include,
for purposes of subdivision (a) of Section 8877, any building which
qualifies as "historical property" as determined by an appropriate
governmental agency under Section 37602 of the Health and Safety
Code.
(b) "Local building department" means a department or agency of a
city or county charged with the responsibility for the enforcement of
local building codes.



8875.1. A program is hereby established within all cities, both
general law and chartered, and all counties and portions thereof
located within seismic zone 4, as defined and illustrated in Chapter
2-23 of Part 2 of Title 24 of the California Administrative Code, to
identify all potentially hazardous buildings and to establish a
program for mitigation of identified potentially hazardous buildings.




8875.2. Local building departments shall do all of the following:
(a) Identify all potentially hazardous buildings within their
respective jurisdictions on or before January 1, 1990. This
identification shall include current building use and daily occupancy
load. In regard to identifying and inventorying the buildings, the
local building departments may establish a schedule of fees to
recover the costs of identifying potentially hazardous buildings and
carrying out this chapter.
(b) Establish a mitigation program for potentially hazardous
buildings to include notification to the legal owner that the
building is considered to be one of a general type of structure that
historically has exhibited little resistance to earthquake motion.
The mitigation program may include the adoption by ordinance of a
hazardous buildings program, measures to strengthen buildings,
measures to change the use to acceptable occupancy levels or to
demolish the building, tax incentives available for seismic
rehabilitation, low-cost seismic rehabilitation loans available under
Division 32 (commencing with Section 55000) of the Health and Safety
Code, application of structural standards necessary to provide for
life safety above current code requirements, and other incentives to
repair the buildings which are available from federal, state, and
local programs. Compliance with an adopted hazardous buildings
ordinance or mitigation program shall be the responsibility of
building owners.
Nothing in this chapter makes any state building subject to a
local building mitigation program or makes the state or any local
government responsible for paying the cost of strengthening a
privately owned structure, reducing the occupancy, demolishing a
structure, preparing engineering or architectural analysis,
investigation, or design, or other costs associated with compliance
of locally adopted mitigation programs.

 

brick wall

 

 

another brick in the wall