Greenalleycat...pretty much a zero EQ zone, not even a thought around here for most buildings, wind always governs unless it's something like elevated tanks, silos, etc.
RPGs...that is my thinking as well. However I will likely end up with a few significant point loads here and there from beams that I may ask them to slot in a steel post for, especially if they land near existing openings. And sides of existing garage door I don't like the idea of large...
Adding a 2nd storey over the garage portion which is currently 1 storey. And upping the height of that existing garage wall from 8' to 11'...that's where I started worrying about width of wall for the slenderness check of t>h/20. Clearly single wythe wouldn't cut it, or even work for existing 8'...
Yes we have 1000s of older 50-80 yr old houses around here like this...even more that are double brick, no block. And foundation walls in double and triple brick.
Not a lot of experience with older brick/block walls. Existing 2 storey 40+ yr old house all walls as 4" brick exterior with 4" block backup, with bond bricks turned every 7th course. I believe that this is considered as an 8" masonry bearing wall...not 4" load bearing block with 4" veneer. The...
