Earthquake straps??

[The Heretic]

Last year I attended a prep talk about earthquakes.

Most of it I knew already, but one thing stood out; earthquake straps.

Not too worried about most things in my house, except the headboard of my bed which is heavy oak and not attached to anything - just sitting there on top of the bed frame. I want to prevent it from falling onto me and doing me in - which it most probably would as it takes two people to lift it.

Amazon has a bunch of different straps. What are the best ones for this purpose?

The headboard is thick wood, and the sheetrock wall behind it about a foot away (no, I am not going to move the bed closer to the wall - it is just too heavy, a Captain's platform bed weighing hundreds of pounds).

TIA

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[mkwerx]

Last year I attended a prep talk about earthquakes.

Most of it I knew already, but one thing stood out; earthquake straps.

Not too worried about most things in my house, except the headboard of my bed which is heavy oak and not attached to anything - just sitting there on top of the bed frame. I want to prevent it from falling onto me and doing me in - which it most probably would as it takes two people to lift it.

Amazon has a bunch of different straps. What are the best ones for this purpose?

The headboard is thick wood, and the sheetrock wall behind it about a foot away (no, I am not going to move the bed closer to the wall - it is just too heavy, a Captain's platform bed weighing hundreds of pounds).

TIA

Can you anchor the headboard to the frame using lag bolts?

 

[Ura-Ki]

Rope or Cable straps cross tied to the wall studs would be the best option! One thing about strapping for earth quakes that the "Experts" get wrong every time is the need to flex and give a little! Hard fastened and it can break the supporting structure!

 

[The Heretic]

Can you anchor the headboard to the frame using lag bolts?

No, and even if I could, it probably wouldn't be enough to hold it securely.

 

[The Heretic]

I am thinking these would do the job:

https://www.amazon.com/Anti-Tip-Fur...=gateway&sprefix=earthquake+s,aps,229&sr=8-11

 

[Ura-Ki]

I am thinking these would do the job:

https://www.amazon.com/Anti-Tip-Furniture-Childproof-Adjustable-Baby/dp/B075CX3RSK/ref=sr_1_11?crid=1D2Y4S7M7AAQH&keywords=earthquake+straps&qid=1557000701&s=gateway&sprefix=earthquake+s,aps,229&sr=8-11

BINGO, that's what you want!

 

[The Heretic]

I should probably also do the same for the shelves in my shop; I have some heavy duty metal framed shelves from Costco that I store a lot of my prepping supplies in. I kind of doubt they would tip as heavy as they are, but you never know.

 

[bbbass]

Don't forget earthquake straps for the house. Be too bad if the bed was safe but the house fell down!!

 

[The Heretic]

Don't forget earthquake straps for the house. Be too bad if the bed was safe but the house fell down!!

The house is a triple wide on a steel frame on a concrete pad.



If it goes anywhere, it will be sliding down the mountain, maybe in three parts, but I don't think so. I am more worried about trees falling on it.

 

[bbbass]

The house is a triple wide on a steel frame on a concrete pad.

View attachment 576217

If it goes anywhere, it will be sliding down the mountain, maybe in three parts, but I don't think so. I am more worried about trees falling on it.

Nice!!!

I'm not familiar with a steel frame installation. Mine is on a concrete stem-wall type foundation and concrete strips/pads with jacks in the middle. Earthquake straps are required by code from where my double wide sits on the stemwall, back to an anchor point at a 45deg angle. The cross tension keeps the home in place during a trembler.

New stick built homes are being required to have them also, but I'm not certain if it's only in quake zones. (seems kinda redundant)

 

[The Heretic]

Nice!!!

I'm not familiar with a steel frame installation. Mine is on a concrete stem-wall type foundation and concrete strips/pads with jacks in the middle. Earthquake straps are required by code from where my double wide sits on the stemwall, back to an anchor point at a 45deg angle. The cross tension keeps the home in place during a trembler.

New stick built homes are being required to have them also, but I'm not certain if it's only in quake zones. (seems kinda redundant)

Most "mobile homes" - now called manufactured homes, are built on an underlying steel frame, usually i-beams. I didn't mean that the walls are steel framed (although there are houses that have steel 'studs'/etc. in the walls, instead of wood, those are mostly commercial buildings and the studs are not weight bearing like in a house, they mostly just serve as walls to separate rooms).

I meant like this:



They then lay a wooden floor on top of that frame, then wooden stud framed walls and wooden roofs.



When they install the house where it will be lived in, they can put it up on jacks, piers or other supports, or on a concrete foundation. But if the owner/buyer so wishes (it is much more costly), they place it on a concrete pad and tied down to anchor points on the slab. Mine is on such a slab, so I assume it has the tie-downs - they are required anymore - not sure since when - for wind resistance.

Pretty much, where the slab goes, so will my house. Since it is on some fill dirt on an incline (not steep right near the house - but there is a gully about 100 feet away) on a mountain, it is possible it will slide down the incline with the slab if the earthquake causes a landslide - but that would pretty much be the case with any house built here, if the land slides.