When did California figure out the brick thingy? (Layout Floor Plan Added.)

[vsmith]

Unreinforced Masonry Construction (URM), your basic traditional East Coast brick constuction technic was banned only after the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. Yet 1000's of URM building were already built, after the 1971 Sylmar EQ the City of LA and later many other cities passed codes that all URM buildings were to be either siemically upgraded or torn down, in the years since codes for ALL buildings recieving significant remodelings have to be upgraded to the latest EQ code regulations, that includes homes not bolted down, older tilt-up concrete warehouses, and older mid and high-rise buildings.

I've done a mess of EQ upgrades over the years, even having the codes change in the middle of construction necessitating a major redesign of a 1/2 built building. About a year after Northridge all projects under construction that had not yet recieved there certificates of occupancy were required to re-evaluate there structural and met the new requirements, what a hassle that was.

Brick is still around as a decorative element, and concrete block is still very common.

[Anonymous]

California and elsewhere was using brick construction before the 1860's. Brick (and stone and adobe) became more popular in urban areas as neighborhoods or entire towns were leveled, not so much by earthquakes, as by fire. Fire was often the key destructive element even during an earthquake, as fire spread rapidly and fire-fighting was hampered by the interuption of the water supply.

Brick buildings would be interspersed with wood framed buildings in small towns where spread of fire was less of a concern. As time went on., cities became more and more "fireproof" by prohibiting wood frame construction.

Pre-1900's urban layouts would likely be correct to have a mix of building styles. Best to check historical photos of the era & locations being modeled.

Wayne

[SpaceMouse]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TurboOne

Mister Beasley caught you Chip. Now you have to take a new picture where it is on the track.

In San Diego we still have some brick houses, but the bricks are decorative only. They build the house out of stucco, drywall, etc... and put brick on after the fact.

Did you know we have over 600 quakes a year here in CA ?

Tim

Dude,

I grew up in CA. I was teaching at CSUN and standing in the parking lot when the Sylmar Quake hit. It was really cool watching the asphalt roll like waves in the ocean. Of course, all the car alarms were set off. That got pretty annoying very quickly.

CA is where I had my contractor's license.

[TurboOne]

Mister Beasley caught you Chip. Now you have to take a new picture where it is on the track.

In San Diego we still have some brick houses, but the bricks are decorative only. They build the house out of stucco, drywall, etc... and put brick on after the fact.

Did you know we have over 600 quakes a year here in CA ?

Tim

[SpaceMouse]

QUOTE: Originally posted by MisterBeasley

Mouse, this has nothing to do with bricks, but is L'il Guy's rear truck derailed in that picture?

Shhhhh! I was hoping no one would notice.[:D]

[MisterBeasley]

Mouse, this has nothing to do with bricks, but is L'il Guy's rear truck derailed in that picture?

[SpaceMouse]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dehusman

I am trying to figure out what question you are actually asking.

Is your question:
Did they have brick buildings in California in the 1890's?

They did.

Dave H.

That was my question thanks. I know they stopped after the big earthquake.

[dehusman]

I am trying to figure out what question you are actually asking.

Is your question:
Did they have brick buildings in California in the 1890's?

They did.

Dave H.

[SpaceMouse]

That if you build structures out of brick, they're eventually going to fall down or at least crack every time the earth shakes.

Reason, there are a lot of good industrial that are brick buildings, quite a few that are metal, but very few that are wood buildings. I'm trying to figure out if there were brick buildings around in the 1890's.

I know thay had figured it out by 1907.