The Washington Association of Building Officials (WABO) is passionate about building and life safety. Protecting homes against earthquake damage is one area that WABO has dedicated resources to. The application process for Earthquake Home Retrofit Permits (also known as Project Impact) can greatly increases the speed by which a permit can be issued. Jurisdictions will provide suggestions, called prescriptive plan sets, on how to retrofit homes. These plan sets help you obtain the Earthquake Home Retrofit Permit quickly and easily. They also eliminate the need to hire a design professional to develop drawings. If projects do not meet the requirements of the prescriptive plan set, a voluntary seismic retrofit designed by an engineer can be submitted.

Home retrofit plans address common locations of earthquake damage to single-family homes by following the ABC of home earthquake retrofits: Anchor the home to a foundation; Brace the wall between the foundation and the first floor; and Connect that wall to first floor framing.

Standard Earthquake Home Retrofit Plan Set*

* For technical inquiries on the retrofit plan set, please contact your local building department.

Earthquake Retrofit Contractor Training

Earthquake Home Retrofit training provides a consistent, approved approach to the seismic retrofit of older, wood-framed, single-family homes. The training enables builders and contractors to enhance their skills and expand business into a new area. Builders and Contractors who complete this training will be added to the Earthquake Retrofit Contractor list.

Contractor training coming soon. If you are interested in future training notificiations, please join our waitlist.

Sign up for our waitlist

We cannot recommend specific contractors, so we suggest that homeowners do additional research, including checking references, experience, and current professional standing before selecting a contractor to help with home projects. Contractors listed may offer other services in addition to residential retrofitting, such as new construction and remodeling. Unless otherwise noted, they are licensed as general contractors.

Earthquake Retrofit Contractors

*WABO will be working on compiling an up-to-date contractor list with industry partners.

Earthquake Home Retrofit Resources

Properly retrofitted houses are made stronger against earthquake shaking and damage. This means homes are safer, and the chance of injury or even death in a devastating earthquake has been reduced. There are many great resources available on the subject of earhquake home retrofitting and we have compiled a page of resources for your convenience.