Residential · Temecula, California, USA

Hillside Residence with Basement

Structural design of a two-level hillside home — a concrete basement with retaining walls below light-frame wood floors, shear walls and a trussed roof.

Structure

Hillside Residence with Basement — Permit set2026

131Page calc package

SDS 1.11gDesign spectral accel.

35.5 kSeismic base shear

10Structural sheets

Sector: Residential
Location: Temecula, California, USA
Year: 2026
Status: Permit set
Deliverables shown: 7 drawings & views

Case study

Structural engineering for a two-level home stepping down a hillside site, with a basement level retaining the slope.

A two-level family home on a sloping site in Temecula. The lower level is a concrete basement whose retaining walls hold back the hillside and support the light-frame wood house above. Axisys carried out the seismic analysis, shear wall and hold-down design, floor and roof framing, and the concrete retaining walls, columns and footings, issued as a structural permit set with a full calculation package.

The challenge

A basement cut into the slope means retaining walls that also carry the house above, in a high seismic region.

What Axisys did

Seismic weight and base shear calculation
Shear wall design and hold-down schedule
Floor and roof framing design
Concrete basement retaining walls, columns and footings
Permit structural drawing set and calculation package

AutoCAD
TEDDS
ForteWEB

Outcome

10-sheet structural permit set and a 131-page calculation package.

ENG

Engineering data

Hillside Residence with Basement

From the project drawings & calculations

Structural system

Light-frame wood bearing and shear walls over a concrete basement with retaining walls, engineered floor framing and wood roof trusses, on concrete footings.

Design codes & standards