@martin-w

As January 10th is on final approach here at 2245 Pacific Standard Time, I hope you had a great birthday 🎉 🥳🎂🎈🎁

We celebrated your birthday this morning by having an earthquake (3.7) and two aftershocks (2.5, 3.0) https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/preliminary-magnitude-3-7-earthquake-strikes-near-20026930.php

So, San Francisco sent “3 cheers” in your honor. We hope you had a rollicking good time on your day!

Luckily nobody injured, Mike.

Must be a bit scary at times, living in a location prone to such eventualities. 

9 hours ago, martin-w said:

Must be a bit scary at times, living in a location prone to such eventualities. 

I've come to see it this way, I used to live in Canada that got lots and lots of snow, I now live in Wellington which is a ticking time bomb for earthquakes, having lived in both I would take earthquakes over snow any day. In the history of New Zealand earthquakes have killed 492 people, compare that to the number of snow related deaths in Canada which would be in the thousands, in fact dozens are killed in snow every winter, no matter how you look at it Snow is a far greater danger then Earthquakes, and I have never met a Canadian afraid of the snow. 

Earthquake fear is based on the unknown, but like snow, earthquakes can be managed as well to reduce your risks significantly, and preparing for earthquakes is far easier compared to snow management. 

3 hours ago, Matthew Kane said:

earthquakes over snow any day. In the history of New Zealand earthquakes have killed 492 people, compare that to the number of snow related deaths in Canada which would be in the thousands,

 

I recall my ex wife's grandmother, from Wellington, telling us how she once walked out of a shop and the entire road was rippling towards her. Yikes!

On 1/10/2025 at 8:57 AM, martin-w said:

 

I recall it's yours too.

Happy Birthday to you. 👍

Ten free cat points for you...

 

😺 X10

 

You're welcome Martin! Cheers!

On 1/11/2025 at 12:19 PM, Matthew Kane said:

Earthquake fear is based on the unknown, but like snow, earthquakes can be managed as well to reduce your risks significantly, and preparing for earthquakes is far easier compared to snow management. 

Have you ever known anyone who has lived through a magnitude 7+ earthquake?  I have, and they will tell you it is terrifying.  My wife lived through on in the 1970s which killed a lot of people, and her cousins made it through one a few years ago which did immense damage and resulted in the complete destruction of several towns.

You seem like a nice guy, but what you said is plain silly.

Dave

 

1 hour ago, dave2013 said:

Have you ever known anyone who has lived through a magnitude 7+ earthquake?  I have, and they will tell you it is terrifying.  My wife lived through on in the 1970s which killed a lot of people, and her cousins made it through one a few years ago which did immense damage and resulted in the complete destruction of several towns.

You seem like a nice guy, but what you said is plain silly.

Dave

 

Yes of course I know people that have lived through them, anywhere you live in the world you choose to live with a risk, Atlantic Coast is Huricanes, West Coast is Earthquakes and Fires, northern regions is snow. I am not from New Zealand I choose to come here, I decided that of all the risks I would take earthquakes over snow, because Snow is a constant and earthquakes are not

We live in a log beam home designed for earthquakes, when they happen we have no plaster, the beams may shift but you just loosen the threaded rods through them and reshape the house and tighten them up again, this house has had many earthquakes over the decades now, we have water storage tanks, food storage and extra fuel, our home, workplaces and kids schools are all above tsunami lines, earthquake plans have changed it used to be muster zones or meeting places that is no longer the case because of tsunami risks so you just b-line for the kids school then home because that is higher elevation anyways.

I lived in Nova Scotia with Huricanes, they are a pain but I was never really afraid of them you can make yourself safe, The earthquakes I've been through so far or more a pain then anything because following I've spent a fortune relocating my business due to earthquake strengthening and spent money on reinforcing walls and fixtures, but again I prefer earthquake management over snow management because  at least it's not cold and wet.

My partner is from Zimbabwe, she's got that live in the moment attitude, if it gets you it gets you, if it doesn't it doesn't, live each day for today and don't worry about it. A bit of that rubs off on me and our kids too. There is truth to that worrying about things compromises living in the moment and gets in the way of life. Make a plan, be prepared, and get on with it

Edited January 13, 20251 yr by Matthew Kane

1 hour ago, Matthew Kane said:

My partner is from Zimbabwe, she's got that live in the moment attitude, if it gets you it gets you, if it doesn't it doesn't, live each day for today and don't worry about it.

I wish more people were like that.

Central America gets tornadoes. Damage can be devastating but it's usually confined to reasonably small areas.

Many years ago I lived in the suburbs. A tornado hit about two blocks away. We drove around to see the damage, which thankfully wasn't much. People in vans were being sent away, but my 79 Merc 300D was waved right on through. I did have my son with me. Don't get mistaken for a looter.

I'm now in the boonies, far enough that we get sunlight by subscription. A couple of years ago we went to shelter inside the house (closet and inside bathroom) and only lost one metal roof section over the other house's back porch, which landed in my front yard. Someone remarked, "Did the gorram primary buffer panel just fly off my gorram ship?"  Firefly reference, made me laugh. Didn't see any damage from a tornado touch down anywhere though.

We've had many others, but only those two were close.

Log house sounds pretty cool, and it works well for your situation. My step-sister lives in a modern log house. I wouldn't complain if you posted a pic. 🙂

Hook

PS. I googled "a log beam home designed for earthquakes" and the pics are really cool! Wasn't quite what I expected and not like sister's house.

H.

Edited January 13, 20251 yr by LHookins

If Mathew's log beam house is anything like this, it's gorgeous.

 

Google "modern log house pics" to get an idea of what they look like in many variations.

Hook

32 minutes ago, LHookins said:

Google "modern log house pics" to get an idea of what they look like in many variations.

Hook

Our home is called a Lockwood Home, the beams are very heavy, there are other tongue and groove style homes using thinner wood, ours are very solid beams which makes a difference. You can see their website their latest designs are exceptional, ours is from the 70s so it isn't as open consept and far more basic 3 bedroom bungalow compared to the newer ones. Kind of like lego bricks  no shortage of designs you can do with this concept

https://lockwood.co.nz/ 

1 hour ago, Matthew Kane said:

Our home is called a Lockwood Home

I checked the site. My sister's house might be from them as she had the same free-standing fireplace shown in one of the pictures and the walls looked the same.

One unusual feature was that the interior doors slid sideways into the walls rather than swinging open as you'd expect.

Thanks for the link.

Hook

Edited January 13, 20251 yr by LHookins

Laminated timber planks. Engineered timber in other words. A system that's becoming more popular, in the UK too. 

8 hours ago, martin-w said:

Laminated timber planks. Engineered timber in other words.

Frankentimber! 😄 😄 😄 

Hey, sounds great to me! A clear example of progress improving our lives.

Hook

8 hours ago, martin-w said:

Laminated timber planks. Engineered timber in other words. A system that's becoming more popular, in the UK too. 

The guy that started the company 'Lockwood' was an immigrant from Norway, so basically it is Norwegian Engineering not New Zealand, but the design works very well pretty much anywhere. They also don't burn the same as a timber frame home that will go up in flames much faster, because the wood is much denser it is a far more slow burn so better chance of saving the house if the fire department can get out and put it out quick enough, then you can just replace the beams that were lost in that portion of the house.

I wouldn't have one of these in Southern California as I said in another post my preference would be steel framing and stucco exterior, clay roofing. In the Southern USA around the gulf coast a lot of those houses are built on stilts which work great on flood planes, to be honest I would rather live on a flood plane on stilts then a dry fire ecology region because managing water is a lot easier then managing fire. Water goes up, water comes down, as long as your house is above that line you are good.

For England yes these Norwegian Style Concepts would be ideal as well, put a wood burning stove in them and you would save tremendously on heat provided you have a free or cheap source for firewood, wood burning stoves are great for exhausting the moisture out of a house and moisture is a problem in the UK as well. We get free firewood from an arborist that lives next door so we get free heat 👍