🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <kml1q7INN3u7@agate.berkeley.edu> abulloch@garnet.berkeley.edu (Anthony Bulloch) writes:
>>In article <1991Dec31.235319.16673@PA.dec.com> klee@wsl.dec.com writes:
>>>In case you already haven't heard, CA state homeowner's earthquake
>>>insurance goes into effect January 1.  It covers $15K of structural
>>>damage, no personal property loss. 
>
>>I said defiantly:
>>So, another option for saving your money is just dont pay it.
>>                                            ~~~~  ~~  ~~~  ~
>
>Don't be so sure.  We too had done extensive reinforcement: sheer-wall,
>heavy bolting to the sill every few feet (much more concentrated than
>is standard), tie straps etc. etc.  All done by one of the best companies
>in the business in this area and way over average reinforcement.
>Come the 89 earthquake..... chimney down, 12 feet of foundation wall
>cracked to the point of needing replacement, tears in the roof
>(hence leaks etc.).  All in all a little over $30,000 of damage.
>Our insurance didn't cover it because we have a 10% deductible,
>so only an SBA/FEMA loan saved us.  If the state insurance had
>been in place at the time, we would have been much more secure
>financially.
>
>You can't assume or predict when it comes to structures and earthquakes.
>We had reinforced to the point where friends almost thought we were
>being paranoid, and even with hindsight we still couldn't have
>foreseen the damage which actually occurred. So, yes, do your
>reinforcing, but take out that insurance too.
>
>Anthony Bulloch
>
>(510) 549-9127 (home)
>
>abulloch@garnet.berkeley.edu


Thanks, but no thanks.  (Although if I were in YOUR shoes, I would 
probably pay it gladly!)

My house in Silicon Valley survived the 89 quake without a scratch.
Or a crack even...

It sounds to me like your house was built on land fill, or was in one
of the geo-danger zones, or was an old construction.  

My house has none of these problems, and it 
is my considered opinion that it is highly unlikely that I will suffer
anything worse than a chimney blowout in the worst case scenario of
an 8.3 quake on either of the major faultlines which run around
the Santa Clara Valley.  I also consider the odds of that happening
within my lifetime to be fairly long odds.  
If it does, I will shrug and spend $5K-10K on a new chimney.

I cant imagine the people in Stockton, Redding, Red Bluff and Sacramento paying
this fee.  The odds of their being hit by a major earthquake are remote.

Is this fee mandated statewide???


--Al Date
Std disclaimers