We had our 1926 house bolted down to the foundation by these guys, and they were great. Seismic retrofitting is one of the top things to do to be prepared for emergencies in Seattle. The cost was a little high, but when you consider that it only cost 1.2% of the value of the entire house, and may, if something particularly nasty happens along the Seattle Fault while we're in the house, save our lives, we splurged.
Sound Seismic is also know as Jackson Remodelling, as they have branched out to other remodelling jobs. Many people like to do a full basement remodel along with the retrofit, but we stuck with the basics, which include bolting the mudsill to the concrete foundation, attaching the first floor to the wood foundation walls, and creating stiff sheer walls above the concrete foundation. In installing these walls, they put in insulation, for added comfort.
It took them 5 days, their crew was very friendly, effecient, and tidy, and were willing to to a few little extras at our request. I value a clean jobsite greatly, as it shows they care, and I was happy to see how clean they were at the end of each day.
We are probably going to get bids from them for a little upstairs project we have coming up just because we liked their work so much.
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