Millions of people in SoCal live in such areas.
You build stiff and light structures that 'ride' on the soil. Allow for rocking and some cracking ( which releases energy... (*) ).
Then, build on top of a prestressed concrete slab with tension cables within. This keeps the slab from cracking and makes it move in one piece.
Think "surfing" and "snowshoes" and you get the idea.
In commercial buildings you see steel frames with concrete slab walls. The floors within ride on internal metal post and beam structures. The whole thing has elastomeric and sliding interfaces... so it can bend, contract and expand. All of this absorbs energy.
In essence, you have very stiff, but light, sections connected by elastic interfaces.
If you look as such structures, you can see the "rubberized" connections at the floors, doors, ceiling and so on. Even on road and freeway overpasses you see those. Not normally required in residential buildings are they are smaller. So the entire building is design to rock and roll in one piece.
Wood framing and stucco, again, are the trick for residential construction - not large apartment buildings...
Nothing like sitting down on a roller and looking at the seismic waves roll down along a 200 foot wall in a warehouse... Whoops!
And, so long as things are bolted down, they won't fall.
High rises are another thing. They are designed to rock and righten themselves. But in areas wont to soil liquefaction you don't see many buildings taller than 10 floors.
It's a fun place.
(*) that's why stucco on wood frames work so well.
I think raft foundations are similar, but here we use ribbed bars, not wire.
This is common in the Indore and Bhopal cities, a basement is excavated, a bed of sand about 6" thick is spread, then the slab poured.
The foundation footings start from there, and on reaching plinth level, loose rock and sand are poured in (other stuff is also used).
Then it is compacted, and the floor is made...slab, stone, tiles, as per choice.
From this and up, it is a normal RCC framed structure, with non load bearing partition walls. Roof slabs are also RCC, concrete aggregate and ribbed steel bars.
In those areas, the soil forms voids, particularly after rains, so this has to be done to ensure safety. Sometimes the boundary wall is also taken as a concrete cast wall from that basement level, for strength and safety.
Some areas have strong bricks, RBC (Reinforced Brick Concrete) is a technique which is possible.
Basically bricks laid on forms, with a gap to allow rebar to be put, and aggregate poured...about 2" between bricks, 6 or 8 mm steel, thicker bars every few lines of bricks depending on span.
This style is used for roofs in the Punjab area.
As for your information, thanks, most informative.
This is common in the Indore and Bhopal cities, a basement is excavated, a bed of sand about 6" thick is spread, then the slab poured.
The foundation footings start from there, and on reaching plinth level, loose rock and sand are poured in (other stuff is also used).
Then it is compacted, and the floor is made...slab, stone, tiles, as per choice.
From this and up, it is a normal RCC framed structure, with non load bearing partition walls. Roof slabs are also RCC, concrete aggregate and ribbed steel bars.
In those areas, the soil forms voids, particularly after rains, so this has to be done to ensure safety. Sometimes the boundary wall is also taken as a concrete cast wall from that basement level, for strength and safety.
Some areas have strong bricks, RBC (Reinforced Brick Concrete) is a technique which is possible.
Basically bricks laid on forms, with a gap to allow rebar to be put, and aggregate poured...about 2" between bricks, 6 or 8 mm steel, thicker bars every few lines of bricks depending on span.
This style is used for roofs in the Punjab area.
As for your information, thanks, most informative.
I would like a ranch the size of Montana... but imaging the work on fixing the fences.
Price changes will depend on the vested interests who have made down payments to book properties using borrowed money...the lending banks are in the most vulnerable position. Their exposure would be known to the regulators, who will bear it in mind when they decide on interest rate changes.
But 15% price increase in a month was insane, and also reports of asking price being the minimum price, houses sold for much more than asking, for whatever reason.
And the country has a population whose median age is increasing, the mortgage has to be paid off by age 55 or so, with declining economic activity, that is also worrisome.
I have a relative who got a house in the 1980s for 150,000 C$, today it is worth 2 mil, 800K mortgage. People borrow on their equity, and divert the money. He is retired, no chance of paying off the mortgage, it will simply get transferred to the new buyer, who needs to spend 60k on repairs.
This will become increasingly common, and the people who will buy houses also have a choice. And if many houses come up for sale, then what?
It looks like a big mess to me, and the lenders are in a very bad position.
Here, prices in the suburban areas are doubling every five years, and interest rates are less than 8% annually. Inner cities, congested areas, very speculative...risky. Commercial property in congested areas is seeing less demand, as sales move on line.
But 15% price increase in a month was insane, and also reports of asking price being the minimum price, houses sold for much more than asking, for whatever reason.
And the country has a population whose median age is increasing, the mortgage has to be paid off by age 55 or so, with declining economic activity, that is also worrisome.
I have a relative who got a house in the 1980s for 150,000 C$, today it is worth 2 mil, 800K mortgage. People borrow on their equity, and divert the money. He is retired, no chance of paying off the mortgage, it will simply get transferred to the new buyer, who needs to spend 60k on repairs.
This will become increasingly common, and the people who will buy houses also have a choice. And if many houses come up for sale, then what?
It looks like a big mess to me, and the lenders are in a very bad position.
Here, prices in the suburban areas are doubling every five years, and interest rates are less than 8% annually. Inner cities, congested areas, very speculative...risky. Commercial property in congested areas is seeing less demand, as sales move on line.
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The fear for old retired people is that what happens when the institution or fund where you kept your life savings goes belly up due to losses in lending to the wrong kind of sector.
Then what happens to you?
Spread out your money, if you can, in different places, have a trusted financial professional advise you.
Then what happens to you?
Spread out your money, if you can, in different places, have a trusted financial professional advise you.
That has been a big source for corruption here.
The houses are to be given cheap to poor people, so even the materials are very poor.
8 feet high roofs, instead of 10 feet, and so on.
The contractors are cronies of the politicians...
And some builders here also cut corners, using less than good quality materials in private projects.
The American way of least government involvement is best, they stick to law and order, defense, basic education. Not much else.
You want a house, do it yourself, do not depend on hand outs from incompetent people.
As for adults...the politicians here were known to be law breakers, the scene is changing, but corruption is a big problem.
The local legislator in most cases here was the local rowdy, or his close friend.
My friends in Canada are not happy with the current government, but everybody has their opinion.
Most loud mouths at parties are shut up by the simple question 'Did you vote?'...mostly they did not, so I say why are you crying now...
The houses are to be given cheap to poor people, so even the materials are very poor.
8 feet high roofs, instead of 10 feet, and so on.
The contractors are cronies of the politicians...
And some builders here also cut corners, using less than good quality materials in private projects.
The American way of least government involvement is best, they stick to law and order, defense, basic education. Not much else.
You want a house, do it yourself, do not depend on hand outs from incompetent people.
As for adults...the politicians here were known to be law breakers, the scene is changing, but corruption is a big problem.
The local legislator in most cases here was the local rowdy, or his close friend.
My friends in Canada are not happy with the current government, but everybody has their opinion.
Most loud mouths at parties are shut up by the simple question 'Did you vote?'...mostly they did not, so I say why are you crying now...
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Yes, a correction is to be expected. But this isn't 2008. There isn't enough housing stock to meet demand. In 2008 supply exceeded demand.
Developers can't build fast enough here. I'm getting weekly solicitations to sell my house "as is." The two houses next door are going to hit the market within days. I know developers want to snatch them up, buy my house, and build 2 McMansions on the 3 lots. That will happen the day they offer me 7 figures for my house. Unfortunately, they might end up as rentals. That would make 4 rental houses on my block, not good at all. I'll just build a nice tall privacy fence. One of the rental houses is active 24/7 and nobody knows how many people actually live there. Noise, drama, lots of junk cars... I wish they'd do their bad neighbor thing on another block.
Buyers regularly conflate the decrease in currency value with increases in home value. The HPI attempts to compensate for this by taking out inflation and adjusting for home upgrades to compare like for like to the greatest degree possible. I believe Robert Shiller won a Nobel for the analysis condensed in the graph below. He compares American home prices since 1890 against interest rates, population and construction costs. Massive appreciation is a very recent phenomenon best left for a political discussion forum.
It says much about the current media discourse on home prices that this analysis is universally ignored and that recent graphs are nearly impossible to find. Shiller still makes updates available in spreadsheet form on his academic site for old RE wonks who still know where to look. See:
http://www.econ.yale.edu/~shiller/data.htm
Attachments
Would you trust a property investor or a university academic?
Depends on long term track records.
But seek safe havens in tumultuous times.
Which means get out of countries with median populations whose age is above 50.
Their living expenses and medical expenses will bog them down, with little contribution from the young people, who lack skills.
The UK NHS is dominated by people from the Indian sub continent, it seems...meaning the average UK student is unable to be medically educated, for various reasons. Now they want nurses from India, shortage in UK apparently.
And in 2024 the retirees and welfare beneficiaries will exceed the active workers, whose contributions are diverted to pay off those getting benefits in the UK, so the shortfall must come from an increased tax rate, as less economic activity generates less tax.
So foreign companies will start moving out of UK, taking jobs with them.
Germany had a negative population growth rate based on child birth rates since 1969, the lower end jobs are with immigrants.
Not much future in such countries.
Take care.
Depends on long term track records.
But seek safe havens in tumultuous times.
Which means get out of countries with median populations whose age is above 50.
Their living expenses and medical expenses will bog them down, with little contribution from the young people, who lack skills.
The UK NHS is dominated by people from the Indian sub continent, it seems...meaning the average UK student is unable to be medically educated, for various reasons. Now they want nurses from India, shortage in UK apparently.
And in 2024 the retirees and welfare beneficiaries will exceed the active workers, whose contributions are diverted to pay off those getting benefits in the UK, so the shortfall must come from an increased tax rate, as less economic activity generates less tax.
So foreign companies will start moving out of UK, taking jobs with them.
Germany had a negative population growth rate based on child birth rates since 1969, the lower end jobs are with immigrants.
Not much future in such countries.
Take care.
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I can understand what you say about all those other things and I am an advocate for that kind of mindset myself, but central heating?
You do know that central heating does not have to involve oil?
Oil fuelled central heating was made illegal here, effective since a couple years ago, relatively common to replace the furnace with a heatpump of some sort.
I have what is basically a form of central heating based on a heatpump, it quite literally cuts our electricity bill into an actually manageable chunk and reduces the need for firewood to stay warm during winter. Without that system we would at the very least have double the electricity consumption and at the same time use a whole lot more firewood.
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Well... I am more interested in the future of the earth, your previous statements made me think that you are too...
In case you're not watching that whole thing, India is likely to pass China in 2026(!) in terms of population.
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The census counts, due now, are delayed.
India has a census every ten years, 1981, 1991 and so on. 2021 report is not published, if at all it was done, due to the pandemic.
There are a lot of people from neighboring countries who gradually become citizens.
The stop power post was directed at 'Johno', who is a bit droning and boring in his posts. He is a bit of a Luddite, so I said stop using power, and stop taking medicine if you feel strongly about it. That would stop him using a computer as well...
Would not be surprised at our population exceeding that of China in the future.
Heat pump still needs power, mostly from steam cycle or gas turbine plants...
India has a census every ten years, 1981, 1991 and so on. 2021 report is not published, if at all it was done, due to the pandemic.
There are a lot of people from neighboring countries who gradually become citizens.
The stop power post was directed at 'Johno', who is a bit droning and boring in his posts. He is a bit of a Luddite, so I said stop using power, and stop taking medicine if you feel strongly about it. That would stop him using a computer as well...
Would not be surprised at our population exceeding that of China in the future.
Heat pump still needs power, mostly from steam cycle or gas turbine plants...
Heat pumps could be powered by solar - except when the aux heat has to kick in. The heat strips will exceed your capacity and cause you to go to grid for at least a few minutes. Or kick in the gas furnace, if so equipped. We tried (unsuccessfully) to run without aux heat at all - when the outside temp is 8 degrees it doesn’t work too well. De-icing the outside coil more often than actually heating. 50 degrees in the house is a bit too cold.
