Man to determine if red-tagged 19th century home in Napa can be rebuilt

NAPA, Calif. (KGO) -- Things look a lot better Tuesday, despite the widespread damage in Napa.

One business owner told ABC7 News he thinks that downtown Napa will be up and running and look pretty much normal soon, but it's going to take a lot longer for those who own buildings that are red-tagged.

"It moved about two feet forward and eight inches to the left depending on how you look at it," Gary Pierce said.

Like so many people in Napa, Pearce is trying to figure out how to rebuild or whether he can after his late 19th century home was knocked completely off its foundation.

"I've got some friends that are in real estate that have people that work for them who have graciously decided to come out and tell me if this thing if they can lift this thing up and put it back on its foundation, or build a new foundation under it, or whether it's just like the end," Pearce said.

In the meantime, he has to move out and because the home is red-tagged, PG&E came and removed all the gas and electric meters, including the ones that serve his cottage in the back, which wasn't damaged at all.

"The city didn't red tag that, but the meter was on the same board with the rest of the meters, so they took that too, which leaves me with no place to live," Pearce said.

While Pearce figures out where to live short term, he's also got to worry about what will happen to his house long term.

Among those taking a look, engineers from Bay Area-based Simpson Strong-Tie, a company that specializes in earthquake retrofitting and does research on how to keep buildings from being damaged in future earthquakes.

"The collapse was maybe 18 to 20 inches, depending on the conditions of the structure, it might be possible to jack it back into place," Steven Pryor said.

The bottom line is if the historic home can't be repaired, it will have to be destroyed and rebuilt from the ground up.