Garages Supporting Living Space

Such a garage is called a “soft storey” because, laterally, it is too weak to support so much weight in an earthquake.

Looking at the picture to the right, you can see that the second storey living space is supported by only 3 walls. Often these walls have window and door openings that lessen their lateral strength.

Imagine if the earth starting started shifting madly under the garage. Suddenly, those garage walls can no longer support the violently shaking weight they are carrying and give way. Anyone caught above is at great risk of injury.

What You Can Expect Afterward

With luck, the garage will remain upright but it could well end up leaning. It will be red tagged so that no one may go back inside until it has been examined by a structural engineer and deemed safe. It may not be, in which case you’d be without a home until it was repaired.

In a worst case scenario, the garage will totally collapse, leaving the second story flat on the driveway.  You can see from the lower photo what that disaster could look like. Clearly, it’s a tear down and you’d be out a home for years before insurance claims are settled and there are experienced contractors to rebuild it.  Hopefully your insurance would cover the mortgage. That’s about the only thing earthquakes don’t destroy.

Even with earthquake insurance, many Californians ended up abandoning their destroyed homes. Insurance claims took longer than they could wait and deductibles were crippling. It’s over eight years since the Christchurch earthquake claims still haven’t been resolved. No one needs that kind of nightmare.

Retrofitting a Garage

There are a few options and it depends very much on the configuration of the structure. You maybe be able to get quite a lot of benefit from shear walls if there is enough space available. In other instances it may require steel reinforcement. As with all retrofits, we find the best options we can for you according to the investment you are able to make.

Garages with NO living space above

A garage without living space above is not at similar risk given all it supports is a roof. If anything at all, it is most likely to end up leaning, as shown at right. It is still expensive to repair but not much of a risk to life safety.