Home Health and Safety
Protecting Property from Earthquakes

Anchor Tall Bookcases and File Cabinets

If you aren't sure whether your house is at risk from earthquakes, check with your local building official, city engineer, or planning and zoning administrator. They can tell you whether you are in an earthquake hazard area. Also, they usually can tell you how to protect yourself and your house and property from earthquakes.

What You Can Do

Complicated or large-scale changes and those that affect the structure of your house or its electrical wiring and plumbing should be carried out only by a professional contractor licensed to work in your state, county, or city. Be sure to have enough Insurance to cover your costs.

Anchor Tall Bookcases and File Cabinets

During an earthquake, large pieces of furniture such as tall bookcases and file cabinets can fall on you or members of your family. Toppled furniture can also block exits and prevent you from escaping. Anchoring furniture so that it remains upright not only helps prevent injuries but also helps protect both the furniture and its contents.

You can anchor large pieces of furniture in several ways. The figure shows how to anchor a bookcase to a wall, but the same methods can be used for other pieces of furniture. As shown in the figure, a bookcase can be anchored with metal L brackets and screws along its top or sides (either inside or outside) or with screws through its back.

Tips

Keep these points in mind when you anchor large pieces of furniture:

• Make sure that all anchoring screws penetrate not just the wall but the studs behind it as well. Screws embedded only in drywall or plaster will pull out. Regardless of the anchoring method you use, the screws should be long enough to extend at least 2 inches into the wall and studs.

• Before anchoring a bookcase with screws through its back, make sure the back is sturdy enough and that it is securely attached to the sides, top, and bottom. Some bookcases have backs made of very thin materials that are held in place with only small screws or staples that can easily pull out. Those bookcases should be anchored with brackets.

• If you have two or more bookcases or file cabinets that sit next to each other, consider connecting them to one another as well as to the wall. They will be even more stable if you do.

• If possible, move all bookcases, file cabinets, and other large pieces of furniture away from exits so that if they do fall, they won't prevent you from escaping.

• To prevent the contents of your bookcases from falling out, you can install a thin metal or plastic rod, a wood dowel, or even an elastic band across the front of each shelf.

• Before you alter your propane tank in any way, make sure that the tank is your property and not rented from the propane supplier. Before welding new bracing to the tank legs, you must remove the gas from the tank. You should also check with your propane supplier to find out whether additional precautions are necessary.

• Clear the area around the propane tank to ensure that there are no tall or heavy objects that could fall on the tank or rupture the supply line.

•  Anchor and brace them securely. Using a flexible connection on the supply line will help reduce the likelihood of a leak. Compressed gas cylinders, because they have to be periodically replaced, cannot be permanently anchored. But you can use chains to attach them to a wall so that they will remain upright.

• Keep a wrench near the shutoff valve and make sure the members of your family know how to turn off the supply line if they smell a gas leak. On larger tanks, such as farm tanks, consider installing a seismic shutoff valve that will automatically turn off the gas during an earthquake

• Provide a flexible connection between the propane tank and the supply line and where the supply line enters the house. But keep in mind that adding a flexible connection to a propane tank line should be done by a licensed contractor, who will ensure that the work is done correctly and according to all applicable codes. This is important for your safety

• To attach a compressed gas cylinder to a wall, use two lengths of chain around the cylinder -- one just below the top of the cylinder and one just above the bottom. The chains should be attached to eye hooks that are screwed into the wall. In wood-frame walls, the eye hooks must be long enough to penetrate not just the wall but the studs behind it as well. In concrete or masonry block walls, the eye hooks should be installed with expansion anchors or molly bolts.