What is the soft stories building?
The soft stories building is a multi -storey building with one or more floors that are "soft" due to structural design. These floors can be particularly dangerous in the earthquake because they cannot cope with the side forces caused by the nails of the building during the earthquake. As a result, a soft story can fail, causing what is known as the collapse of a soft story. If you have ever seen images of massive damage after a large earthquake, you have probably seen a number of examples of soft story collapse because this is one of the main causes of damage to private residence. For example, parking garages are often soft stories, as well as large retail spaces or floors with lots of windows. While the unreded space of the soft story may be aesthetically or commercially desirable, it also means that there are less opportunities to install cutting walls, specialized walls that are designed takibute side forces to cope with swaying chaEarthquake with the Earthquake.
If the building has a floor that is 70% less stiff than the floor above it, it is considered a soft story building. This soft story creates the main weak point in the earthquake, and since soft stories are classically connected with retail spaces and parking garages, they are often on the lower stories of the building, which means that if they collapse, they can take the whole building with them.
Many regions susceptible to earthquakes have building regulations that specifically define a building of soft stories and forbid the construction of such buildings. When builders apply for permission to create a new structure, engineers can analyze the proposed plans to ensure that no soft stories are built and recommendation to improve the proposal can be included in the letterDrinking, if the building department decides that the building will be structurally unhealthy in the earthquake.
Older buildings are very concerned about building departments and emergency services in areas where there are ordinary earthquakes. These buildings often need retrofits to make them safer in the earthquake, and such retrofits can be relatively cheap, especially compared to the cost of replacing the soft stories building after its collapse. In the San Francisco Bay region, notorious for its earthquake, they are estimated from the six soft stories structures, which means that many neighborhoods could experience catastrophic buildings in a large earthquake if real estate owners reject additional additional. Some insurance companies offering earthquake insurance refuse to insure whether the building is classified as a building of soft stories due to increased responsibility.