This paper investigates the practicality of using base-isolation devices to protect lightweight buildings, such as timber-framed houses, against earthquakes. As the timber-framed buildings considered are designed to a lateral seismic force of 0.24W in Wellington (where W is building weight), it was considered that the appropriate isolation level should be significantly lower, say 0.1W, and lower still in Auckland where such buildings are designed for a lateral force of 0.12W. An analysis showed that houses which had a base-isolation yield set to yield at 0.1 W would have unacceptable deformations under the design wind load if the isolators were located beneath a timber floor, but may be satisfactory if located beneath a concrete slab. A large-scale test using isolators beneath pre-cast floor slabs showed the method used would work even if it was unduly expensive. However, an analysis indicated that there might be little protection for some building contents. A literature survey of alternative base-isolation solutions showed a wide range of innovative, but often impractical, concepts have been proposed. However, one concept showed promise for timber-framed structures. This used two layers of synthetic sheet beneath a concrete floor slab to provide a slip layer. The sheet materials recommended reputably gave a dynamic friction coefficient of 0.07. BRANZ measured the friction coefficient using large samples of both these and other sheet materials. It was concluded that the measured friction was too high for use for the planned buildings, although it may have application for low-rise heavy-brittle construction. Alternative base-isolation concepts are presented which will be useful to others interested in this topic.