Chapter 11: Timber Buildings

Timber construction has long been used – and is still being used – worldwide, especially for low-rise residential buildings. The poor performance of multi-level timber houses in the 1994 Northridge and 1995 Kobe earthquakes due to soft-storey collapse has raised awareness of the potential seismic vulnerability of timber buildings. This chapters covers the typical timber construction features, the observed vulnerabilities of timber buildings in earthquakes and specific local retrofit techniques for timber structure. Retrofit methods covered include strengthening existing timber shear walls, addition of new timber shear walls or steel frames, and foundation strengthening.