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California Earthquake Brace & Bolt Program

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Don’t Miss Your Chance to Receive Up to $3,000 toward an Earthquake Retrofit for Your House! Register between August 20-October 1, 2025!

The California Earthquake Authority's Brace + Bolt (CEA BB) program was developed to help qualified CEA policyholders lessen the potential for damage to their older house during an earthquake and save money on their insurance premium.

Seismic Retrofit house

CEA BB provides qualified policyholders up to $3,000 to complete a code-compliant brace and bolt retrofit of their home. As part of the program, policyholders may also qualify for up to a 25% discount on their CEA earthquake insurance premium once their retrofit is complete.

A residential seismic retrofit strengthens an existing older house, making it more resistant to earthquake activity, such as ground shaking and soil failure. The seismic retrofitting involves bolting the house to its foundation and, when necessary, adding bracing around the perimeter of the crawl space.

A typical retrofit may cost between $3,000 to $7,000 depending on the location and size of the house,cripple-wall-crawl-space-earthquake-brace-bolt-ebb

contractor fees, and the amount of materials and work involved. Most homeowners decide to hire a contractor to do the retrofit work instead of doing it themselves, but if the homeowner is an experienced do-it-yourselfer, a retrofit can cost less than $3,000. Through the CEA BB retrofit, the foundation is bolted, and if there is a cripple wall, it is braced.

Houses that typically qualify:

  • Your house was built before 1980,

  • Your house has a raised foundation or crawl space under the house, and

  • You have not already completed a brace and bolt retrofit.

Register for the CEA BB Grant

Register between August 20-October 1, 2025, by completing the registration online or request a paper registration form to mail. You will be asked questions about your house, and your answers will determine if your home qualifies for one of our retrofit grants.