Our House is a single story house with very high ceilings, a two car garage, with 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. So, when my daughter's boyfriend started painting the front because of his disposition I knew he would do a really great job like he has. So now the front of the house is mostly painted except for the front porch and covered entryway into the foyer. My wife wants to use a different color on the door because there are stain glass panes on the front two entryway doors and stain glass above the doors as well. So, since she has two art degrees and a Master's in Business Administration she has particular views about the artistic nature of our entryway. And as a good husband though I agreed upon the color of the house I find it is best to sort of stay out of her way in regard to the details. I'm mostly pleased at this point that there is a "plastic coat of paint" surrounding the house and protecting it. Because when Exterior Semi-Gloss dries it is basically colored plastic that protects your siding and home from the weather.
We were very surprised yesterday to find out that the siding is redwood and it appears most of the main beams in the living room were also built out of redwood which means all those places are completely impervious to termites which is really important on the (Foggy high and low cloud place of summers and some winters (June, July and most of August) where this summer the air was around 77% humidity because the warm air inland across the nation sucked more moisture than usual off the ocean and kept flowers in the forest blooming straight through the spring and summer and now into the fall which is very unusual along with moisture still in local streams and rivulets. Usually by now only large rivers still have water in them at this point during the year but this year is a complete exception on the amount of water and moisture still available.
But building with Redwood now has become completely cost prohibitive so this construction on our house was likely done in the 1980s or 1970s. I think it started as a beach house in the 1920s and 1930s and slowly became the 2500 plus square foot (floor square footage) house it now has become. When I climbed under the house the earliest cement foundation sort of led me to believe this.
However, what I noticed as a builder when I was younger was how incredibly well built this house was from every point of view. When you are looking at a house in California you want something that can withstand (at the very least an 8.0 earthquake) (The largest I have been in is a 7.1 and then I thought I was going to die in 1971:
So, looking to make sure the house is bolted to the foundation is the first thing to look for. During the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake literally thousands of homes and business structures were thrown off their foundations throughout Northern Calfiornia, especially in the San Francisco Bay area on down as far as Santa Cruz and Watsonville and as far north as places like Santa Rosa. So, if you are thinking about buying a home in northern or southern California be sure to make sure it is extremely well built. You can find this out from your Building inspector that you hire when you buy the home. Just ask him or her if the house is Earthquake safe?
It is also important to know what is under the house. The worst thing is sand which will amplify the earthquake and the best is bedrock or Granite. If your home is not built on a fault like the San Andreas or other fault and is on Granite or Bedrock that is the best location to have to keep your home unharmed during a big earthquake. But if there is any earthquake above 8.0 likely all structures near the epicenter will be gone and flattened. If this happens this is what we call "The Big One" and this hasn't happened in several hundred years at present I believe.
Here is the Loma Prieta site at Wikipedia:
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