Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Home inspector Michael Szramek (right) goes over repair options with Dwayne Korthuis-Smith concerning his south Capitol home after last week's earthquake.

Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Home inspector Michael Szramek (left) talks about the structural integrity of Dwayne Korthuis-Smith's home fireplace.

Assessing the damage

Structural engineer guides a damage inventory of one family's historic home

SARAH JACKSON, THE OLYMPIAN

OLYMPIA -- Dwayne Korthuis-Smith knows the quake caused significant structural damage to his 1922 Dutch Colonial home on Columbia Street.

The hairline cracks are everywhere -- from the concrete foundation to master bedroom walls. He knows there will be spackling, sanding and repainting aplenty.

But that's the least of Korthuis-Smith's worries.

The 6.8 whammy on Ash Wednesday dealt a major blow to the historic Harmon House, leaving a slanting dining room floor and crumbling brick columns that are supposed to be holding up the house.

That's why one week after the quake, he and his wife, Wendy, hired structural engineer Mike Szramek for a detailed diagnosis, despite earlier city and Federal Emergency Management Agency inspections.

Korthuis-Smith installed a substantial brace under one column on the porch. The temporary repair allowed the family to continue living in the house.

Now all Korthuis-Smith wants to do is make sure his two young daughters, now ages 9 months and 2, rest safely in their upstairs bedroom.

"We moved to this neighborhood because we want to live here for 30 years or more," Korthuis-Smith said while on the inspection, worried that some cracks could compromise the two-story home's structural integrity. "Peace of mind is a lot for my girls."

Like many homeowners, Kor-thuis-Smith wanted to learn the difference between cosmetic cracks and bigger problems.

The home he and his wife bought in September and recently replumbed now has disintegrating masonry in the fireplace, drafty windows, doors that no longer close as easily, a slanting porch and debris in the basement.

Crack code

Szramek, vice president of MC Squared Inc. of Olympia, first offered his rule of thumb on the cracks spider-webbing along the home's walls: "If I can draw a line with a pencil (along the crack) I don't worry too much. But if I can push my pencil through the crack, that's something to get excited about."

Ken Urie, a design specialist at Home Depot in Olympia, offers a variant of the rule.

He said homeowners should get a specialist to look at any cracks wide enough to insert the thin edge of a playing card.

"Anything that they're doing that they think they're getting in over their head, (they should) contact a reputable contractor or inspection service," he said.

When Szramek inspected the Kor-thuis-Smiths' home, he explained how earthquakes "rock 'n' roll" a house, making what would normally be a cohesive jigsaw puzzle into ruffled pieces that are harder to match.

When the house tips to one side "the walls in the building are basically what's holding (the house) up. Sheetrock is very brittle. Earthquake forces are a function of the weight."

In the Korthuis-Smith's living room, Szramek inspected a vertical crack in the corner with a flashlight.

"It's more or less cosmetic because it's a joint," he said of the broken joint tape. "The only thing you have in this corner is a piece of tape. You've broken a piece of paper."

After checking out other cracks, Szramek found some were on top of a joint in the original construction.

"It doesn't take much to cause cracks like that," he said of a horizontal line in a guest bedroom, adding that earthquake pressure is a little like something leaning on a building.

"Different size parts of a home shake at different rhythms," he said. "An earthquake is basically a horizontal motion."

It also doesn't take much to break a previously patched crack, Szramek said, citing the three rules of structural engineering: "Wood rots, cement cracks and steel rusts."

While Szramek found most of the cracks to be aesthetic, he recommended epoxy (super-glue-style injections) for the larger cracks like the half-inchers in the Korthuis-Smith's basement beams acquired during the earthquake.

"By fixing this with epoxy repair, that will restore the original strength to this," Szramek said, patting the beam, where he also suggested connectors and steel brackets to bind intersecting beams. "You're making it better than it was before."

Urie with Home Depot adds that most brick work will require a mason or experienced contractor.

"Chimneys are going to be a big thing and those definitely need professional work. You don't want to do it yourself," he said. "If the bricks are shifted then it's definitely something that needs to be professionally done."

Korthuis-Smith plans to hire a contractor to repair and remodel his brick work.

Foundation evaluation

The Korthuis-Smith house had some diagonal foundation cracks -- one growing in width as it moved up the wall.

Szramek advised monitoring foundation flaws first by drawing a permanent mark on each side of the crack and measure the distance between the lines.

After a quake or over time, measure the distance again.

"You may have had some potential settlement," Szramek said while examining the foundation. "If it starts moving then you have some active settlement going on and need to do some foundation repairs. Over the next winter, if you see water coming through, you might go outside and ... waterproof it."

Know your house

Szramek's all-important nugget of advise: Know your house. Give it an annual exam. Get into the crawl spaces and attics and take a structural inventory to determine its idiosyncrasies and what problems might be getting worse with age and settling soil. That way, when the next quake hits there's a point of comparison for damage.

Try to gauge non-earthquake flaws, Szramek suggested. Long-term, it can mean the difference between a $200 repair or fixes that could cost thousands.

"Pick a day, once a year, the first day of football season, whatever," Szramek told Korthuis-Smith. "Go in and look at your house. Notice any new cracks."

But Szramek also cautions against crack paranoia. If there's dust and paint inside the fracture, it's likely old break, though likely widened during the shake.

At least two of the Korthuis-Smith's interior doors are dragging, but Szramek said sanding and shaving some of the top of the wood would help restore function, adding that frame structures aren't immune to slight shifting.

Final diagnosis

Overall, dealing with the 80-year-old house, Szramek said the damage wouldn't cause the house to fall.

"Your house is safe. Some of it's structural, but it's not life-threatening," he said. "But if Mother Nature wants it, it's hers. Even the federal government cannot get Mother Nature."

Sarah Jackson writes for the Olympian and can be reached at 704-6871.

Inspection direction

To report earthquake damage and schedule an inspection, call the following numbers or a local civil or structural engineer:

- Olympia: 753-8314

- Lacey: 491-5624

- Tumwater: 754-4170

- Unicorporated Thurston County: 754-3360

- Federal Emergency Management Agency: (800) 462-9029.

On the Web:

Visit www.onthehouse.com for earthquake reminders, preparedness tips and an "Aftermath Q and A." Search for "earthquake" in the field at the top of the site.

Earthquake links.

Earthquake stories archive.

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