So we've had the fires, the floods could be coming, and so now it is time to bolt up. And it doesn't have anything to do with the LA Chargers joining wake Up. Call is the chief mitigation officer for the California Earthquake Authority. Let's say good morning to Janille mfag morning.
Janille, good morning, Thank you for having me, Thanks so.
Much for coming on. I know that we had talked about this in the past, but now this new program is becoming available starting tomorrow, and we want to get the word out so people take advantage of it and it's going to help protect your home against an earthquake.
It's right. The Earthquake Brace and Bolt program is open and ready for registrations. It's an important opportunity to make your house more resistant to earthquake damage.
Okay, so it's called earthquake Brace and Bolt. So tell us what exactly we need to do and what the money goes to. How how do people make their homes safer? Right?
So this is so very important for older houses and to be more specific, if you have a pre nineteen eighty house, you might have this vulnerability. If you have a pre nineteen forty house, you do have this vulnerability, and it's the house that has a crawl space under it,
under that first floor. And the older houses were just designed and built before we knew a lot about how buildings performed in earthquakes, and so it lacks bolting to the foundation and bracing around those short little walls around the crawl space, and this can be very, very devastating. These houses come off their foundation, not yet reoccupied, two and a half years later, and you're out somewhere else, living somewhere else, all the while still paying that mortgage.
So earthquake Brace and Bolt has some great retrofit schemes to make your house more protected in an earthquake.
Okay, so Janelle, And it's as simple. I mean, I'm sure it's not like I can't do it myself, but it's as simple as bolting the foundation and like putting the foundation and the house together so when there's those significant shaking, the house doesn't bounce off the foundation.
That's exactly right. And you know, maybe Amy, you and I couldn't do it, but there are some talented do it yourselfers who actually can do this work, people who you have already got the tools. A contractor can do this in two to three days. It's really it's all under the house, and nobody's patting around your house and little Booty's and that's exactly right. They're going under the house and they're putting bolts between the wood part of
the house and the concrete foundation. And then they're putting plywood. If you've got those short little stud walls, they're putting plywood and nailing it up. Like everybody's heard the term shear wall. Just nice stiff plywood that's going to keep that house over its foundation.
Okay, and you can get help doing this because obviously it's not going to be free, but the California Earthquake Authority can help you pay for this.
It's exactly right. What we have are grants. These are not loans, they're grants, and on average it's about fifty two hundred dollars retrofit, a little bit less expensive actually than California. And we have an up to three thousand dollars grant that's our typical grant, and then very importantly for income qualifying households, we have an additional supplemental grant that down in southern California can help and for many
people might pay for the entire retrofit. So very important also is that we have the rules, and the rules are that you do a code compliant retrifit you do the entire cross space, you do it with a permit, and you significantly increase the likelihood that house is going to stay on its foundation in an earthquake. Lots of information.
Our rules are going to keep you right there at that code compliant retrofit, and that permit process will keep you on schedule, and it's a grant and really really increase the likelihood that you can shelter in place after an earthquake.
I love that, so kind of an ounce of prevention. Spend a little bit now, a little bit of time, and hopefully get some grant to help you with it and save your house from probably hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. Where do they get more information?
Janil So Earthquake bracebolt dot com registration open until March twenty six. And we've got fantastic people the other end of a phone or email if you have questions.
Okay, great Janille Mfi with the California Earthquake Authority, the chief Mitigation Officers. Such great information again, Earthquake brace Bolt. Find out if your house is going to get one of those grants to make your house more earthquakes safe. Thanks Janaiel, thank you such good information. Just think about it. I mean, even if you had to pay for the whole thing yourself, which you say, five thousand dollars, but it'll keep your whole house from bouncing off the foundation.
I mean, think of how much money that is going to save you, and especially if you can get a grant and get it paid for