At 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 28, my laptop became an in-my-lap laptop. A 6.8 earthquake hammered Seattle, my laptop (and lots of other things that weren’t tied down) sailed around the room briefly, and the phone hasn’t stop ringing since. E-mail requests from my Web site (www.eifs.com) are piling up, too. People want to know how EIFS behaves in earthquakes and if their building is OK.
Those of you who live in areas not known for earthquakes are probably thinking, “I’ll pass on this month’s EIFS column.” Think again. There are many areas in North America that are seismically active, including the Rocky Mountains, the Tennessee Valley area, the central Midwest, and sections of the East Coast from Georgia to Maine. Clearly, earthquakes are not just a West Coast issue. This month’s column will give you some insights into a specialized area of EIFS knowledge, namely, how EIFS fares in earthquakes.