SEISMIC

Concerned About The Stability of your Structure When The "Big One" Hits?

Before you think about a wood or block or concrete building, especially one over three stories, you better read some important facts. Remember: when the ground starts to shake, steel provides safe, reliable, and ductile structures. Steel has great historical performance in earthquakes!

FAST FACTS

  • Durability and long-term consistent performance – that’s what you get with steel. Reduced structural capacity due to dry-rot, termites, or mold will not compromise a steel structure in an earthquake.
  • Steel absorbs energy. Unlike concrete and masonry, steel bends without breaking. The same material that absorbs energy in a car crash also provides benefits in an earthquake.
  • Steel is lighter. Heavier structures have greater inertia: when the ground starts to shake, they want to stand still; thus greater forces are imparted into heavier structures in earthquakes. Steel is lighter than its structural equivalent in wood, concrete, or masonry.
  • Steel is consistent. Steel does not have a weak direction or weak grain, does not depend upon water/cement ratios or mix design for its strength, and is easy to inspect for seismic.
  • Steel is connected. Using screws, pins, bolts and welds, steel framing has a positive, consistent load path. Steel does not have corrosive chemicals or moisture that can corrode or degrade connectors.