What is the most cost effective and safest material for Seismically Retrofitting a Historic house that is being converted into a Library?
1- wood
2- steel
3- concrete
4- reinforced concrete
my answer is 2, but Chen says 1. The common (and probably only viable) product for a wood based seismic system is a Shear Wall. That means the removal of the face of a wall and treating it with plywood, hold-downs, posts, etc. which needs to be accomplished in a distributed fashion around the building. This is the most intrusive method for a historic building and in my opinion will be unacceptable?
What do you think?