Method of evaluating and classifying living structures for estimating potential damage thereto from physical disturbances

A method for estimating risk of damage likely to be sustained by a structure located at a particular site from a physical disturbance, said method including the steps of:

• inspecting said structure at said site to determine its structural characteristics;
• and
• collecting structure data pertaining to the structural characteristics of said structure;
• and
• inputting the structure data in a format usable by a computer;
• and
• generating an estimate of risk of damage to said structure, wherein the estimate is generated by a computer program based on a combination of the structure data and physical disturbance related information for said site;
• wherein the computer program includes a probabilistic software engine, and said probabilistic software engine analyzes and combines the structural characteristics data with wind force related databases to generate a rating for said structure.

A method for estimating risk of damage likely to be sustained by a structure located at a particular site from a physical disturbance, said method including the steps of:

• inspecting said structure at said site to determine its structural characteristics;
• and
• collecting structure data pertaining to the structural characteristics of said structure;
• and
• inputting the structure data in a format usable by a computer;
• and
• generating an estimate of risk of damage to said structure, wherein the estimate is generated by a computer program based on a combination of the structure data and physical disturbance related information for said site;
• wherein the risk estimate includes information pertaining to the likelihood of said physical disturbance occurring, potential damage likely to be caused by said disturbance, and probable financial harm resulting from such damage;
• wherein the risk estimate further includes an acceptable or unacceptable rating for such structure, and such rating can be used for actuarial purposes for such structure.

A method for estimating risk of damage likely to be sustained by a structure located at a particular site from a physical disturbance, said method including the steps of:

• inspecting said structure at said site to determine its structural characteristics;
• and
• collecting structure data pertaining to the structural characteristics of said structure;
• and
• inputting the structure data in a format usable by a computer;
• and
• generating an estimate of risk of damage to said structure, wherein the estimate is generated by a computer program based on a combination of the structure data and physical disturbance related information for said site;
• wherein said structure is a residential wood frame structure inspected onsite by a visual examination.

A method for estimating risk of damage to a wood frame structure at a particular site from potential earthquake forces, said method including the steps of:

• inspecting said wood frame structure at said site to determine its structural characteristics;
• and
• collecting data related to the structural characteristics of said structure, including frame, supporting wall, foundation, cripple wall and roof characteristics;
• generating a structural characteristics database from the structural characteristics data;
• and
• generating an estimate of likely damage to said structure, wherein the estimate is calculated by a computer program based on a combination of the structural characteristics database for said structure and seismic database information for said site;
• wherein the computer program includes a probabilistic software engine, and said probabilistic software engine analyzes and combines the structural characteristics database with seismic related databases to generate a rating for said structure.

A method for estimating risk of damage to a wood frame structure at a particular site from potential wind forces, said method including the steps of:

• inspecting said wood frame structure at said site to determine its structural characteristics;
• and
• collecting data related to the structural characteristics of said structure, including window, frame, supporting wall, foundation, cripple wall and roof characteristics;
• generating a structural characteristics database from the structural characteristics data;
• and
• generating an estimate of likely damage to said structure, wherein the estimate is calculated by a computer program based on a combination of the structural characteristics database for said structure and wind force database information for said site;
• wherein the computer program includes a probabilistic engine, and said probabilistic engine analyzes and combines the structural characteristics data with wind force related databases to generate a rating for said structure.