There are about 80 million single-family dwellings (SFD) in the United States,
predominantly of wood-frame construction. Of these, 68% are owner occupied. A home is
typically the largest single investment of a family, and is often not covered by earthquake
insurance, even where it is available. Of all the houses in America, 50% were built before
1974, and 76% built before 1990. Most wood frame SFD (WFSFD) were built to
prescriptive code provisions before seismic requirements were introduced. After the
introduction of seismic design requirements, the importance of examining structures as an
assembly of connected elements became more common. Much of the seismic design
information on SFD construction is based on educated opinion or limited research. This
review examines research that can be applied to WFSFD seismic analysis and the design and
retrofit of existing WFSFD. The review is intended to cover most readily available papers
published in major U.S. journals and at major conferences in the area of seismic modeling,
testing and evaluation. We review the “state-of-the-art” of seismic experimentation and
seismic evaluation, and provide our observations and recommendations for future research.Keywords: Seismic, Roofs, Wood, Diaphragms, Wood Structures, Bibliographies, Shear wall