Archive for April, 2009
Fla. to test air in homes with Chinese drywall
By BRIAN SKOLOFF
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Officials in Florida will soon begin air quality tests in homes to determine whether fumes emitted from Chinese-made drywall can make people sick, the state Health Department said Friday.
Agency spokesman Doc Kokol said the tests, which he hopes will begin in several weeks, are complex and have never been done before.
“This is new science, nobody has tested drywall like this,” he said.
An Associated Press review of shipping records found more than 540 million pounds of plasterboard was imported from China between 2004 and 2008 to meet U.S. demand during the national housing boom. Hundreds of people nationwide are now complaining that the material emits fumes that make them sick. They claim it also corrodes copper pipes, blackens jewelry and silverware and ruins air conditioners.
Estimates indicate the drywall may be in more than 100,000 homes, more than 35,000 in Florida alone. The state Health Department has logged 265 complaints so far. Lawsuits against the Chinese manufacturers, builders and suppliers have been filed in several states, including Florida, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.
Companies that produced some of the wallboard said they are looking into the complaints, but downplayed the possibility of health risks.
Kokol said the department is looking for a lab to conduct the tests and the agency hoped to have equipment installed in a few homes with the drywall, and some without, in several weeks.
Meanwhile, Democratic state Sen. Dave Aronberg on Friday called on Gov. Charlie Crist to create a statewide task force to investigate the problems. “The longer we wait, the worse the situation will be,” Aronberg said.
Crist’s office said the state is already entrenched in a major investigation led by Florida’s surgeon general and also is working with the federal government, which is also investigating.
Crist and Gov. Bobby Jindal in Louisiana, where the drywall turned up in some homes rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina, have asked for assistance with chemical testing from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Legislation also has been introduced in the U.S. House and Senate, calling for a temporary ban on the Chinese-made imports until more is known about their chemical makeup.
On the Net:
Florida Department of Health: http://www.doh.state.fl.us/Environment/community/indoor-air/drywall.html
Sen. Aronberg calls for drywall task force
South Florida Business Journal – by Paul Brinkmann
Florida Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, is recommending a statewide plan he believes will protect homeowners from problems with Chinese drywall, as well as create a uniform standard to restore and repair affected homes.
Aronberg, who announced the plan on Friday with the Consumer Federation of the Southeast, said he would send a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist, asking him to appoint a special task force.
The task force, he said, should include health experts, representatives of the homebuilding industry, consumer advocates, scientists and representatives of drywall manufacturers. The focus would be on making recommendations for removing and replacing drywall, and for what new laws or regulations might be needed, Aronberg said.
“Expensive and lengthy litigation is not the answer,” he said. “We need consumer protection laws.”
If the state government doesn’t act, Aronberg said it is possible that local government will enact ordinances that could be conflicting or confusing,
“There’s a lot of concern — and it’s justified — but we need to make sure we’re not going to have a wave of hysteria,” he said.
The defective, high-sulfur drywall gives off fumes, resulting in a “rotten egg” odor and metal corrosion, especially in air conditioners. The Florida Department of Health has received 265 complaints about Chinese drywall since January. It has set up a Web site for consumers with pictures to determine if their home has Chinese drywall.
Most of the complaints have come from South or Southwest Florida, including 26 from Palm Beach County, 24 from Broward, and 20 from Miami-Dade.
In mid-February, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said it was investigating the problem. In March, the University of Florida’s Rinker School of Building Construction said it was starting a preliminary study of its own.
Several builders have acknowledged that the problem drywall was installed in their homes. Miami-based Lennar Corp. has a program to remove the drywall.
Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin, a division of the Knauf Group in Germany, has acknowledged some of its drywall imported to the U.S. in 2006 is associated with complaints of odors and metal corrosion, but the company has said the problem was tied to gypsum from one natural gypsum mine in Tianjin, China, which is no longer used.
Sulfur Dioxide
Respiratory Effects from Gaseous SO2 – Peak levels of SO2 in the air can cause temporary breathing difficulty for people with asthma who are active outdoors. Longer-term exposures to high levels of SO2 gas and particles cause respiratory illness and aggravate existing heart disease.
Respiratory Effects from Sulfate Particles – SO2 reacts with other chemicals in the air to form tiny sulfate particles. When these are breathed, they gather in the lungs and are associated with increased respiratory symptoms and disease, difficulty in breathing, and premature death.
Short-term Peak Levels
High levels of SO2emitted over a short period, such as a day, can be particularly problematic for people with asthma. EPA encourages communities to learn about the types of industries in their communities and to work with local industrial facilities to address pollution control equipment failures or process upsets that could result in peak levels of SO2.
Tainted Chinese drywall shows up in Katrina homes
By CAIN BURDEAU
April 13, 2009
CHALMETTE, La. (AP) — Thomas Stone and his wife rebuilt after their home was flooded by six feet of water during Hurricane Katrina, never dreaming they would face the agony of tearing it apart all over again.
They tapped Lauren Stone’s 401(k) retirement savings and saved $1,000 by installing Chinese-made drywall throughout their two-story home. Now the Stones are among hundreds of Katrina victims facing another, this time unnatural, disaster.
Sulfur-emitting wallboard from China is wreaking havoc in homes, charring electrical wires, eating away at jewelry, silverware and other valuables, and possibly even sickening families.
“The bathroom upstairs has a corroded shower-head, the door hinges are rusting out,” said 50-year-old Thomas Stone, the longtime fire chief of St. Bernard Parish, outside New Orleans. And then there’s the stench, like rotten eggs, that seems to get worse with the heat and humidity.
“It makes me wish there would be another flood to wash it out,” said his wife Lauren, 49.
Chinese manufacturers flooded the U.S. market with more than 500 million pounds of drywall around the same time Katrina was flooding New Orleans, an Associated Press review of shipping records has found.
The boom in imported China-made building materials peaked in 2006, driven by domestic shortages created by the nationwide construction boom, as well as a series of Gulf Coast hurricanes.
Probes into Chinese drywall mount, but yield few answers for homeowners
By ALLISON ROSS
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 27, 2009
BOYNTON BEACH — Jimmy Diamond says he was flying high back in 2005. He and his wife had good jobs. They had just purchased a two-story, $600,000 home in an upscale Boynton Beach neighborhood.
But now Diamond rubs his face and laughs tiredly when asked what his plans for the future are.
Plasterboard problems
Although not every home in a development has problematic Chinese drywall, these communities have confirmed some properties were built with the material.
Woodfield, Vero Beach
Promenade at Tradition, Port St. Lucie
Cobblestone Creek, Boynton Beach
Mariner Village Townhomes, Stuart
“We have no plan,” Diamond said. “All I know is I’m screwed because I can’t sell my house.”
The Diamonds, who had lined up a buyer for their home, discovered that the development they live in, Cobblestone Creek, has houses with tainted Chinese drywall.
“We had to tell the buyer,” Diamond said. “They backed out the next day.”
The Chinese drywall controversy is snowballing: Investigators from the Consumer Product Safety Commission were in West Florida on Thursday testing homes with the suspect plasterboard. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is testing to determine whether the material can safely be tossed into landfills. And the Florida attorney general’s office has launched an investigation into Chinese drywall manufacturer Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co. – a subsidiary of German company Knauf Gips KG – and drywall distributor L&W Supply Corp. – a subsidiary of U.S.-based USG Corp. – to determine whether any deceptive practices may have occurred in sales or marketing of Chinese-made drywall.
Used extensively in rebuilding following the hurricanes of 2004 and during the housing boom, Chinese-made drywall was an alternative to the U.S. product, which was in short supply. However, Florida Department of Health guidelines suggest the problem could go back to 2000.
It’s now believed that the material is throwing off foul-smelling sulfuric gas when exposed to heat and humidity. Those gases are also suspected as the cause of corroding wires, pipes, home fixtures and even jewelry.
On Monday, the Florida Department of Health released preliminary results of tests of Chinese drywall that eventually should help determine whether the tainted drywall poses a health risk. The results showed higher levels of organic material and sulfuric compounds – particularly strontium sulfide – than U.S.-made plasterboard.
State toxicologist David Krause said several more tests need to be conducted.
In the meantime, homeowners are left to try to figure out for themselves what to do next.
Thursday night, a group of about 150 Boynton Beach homeowners gathered outside the Cobblestone Creek community’s clubhouse to hear a presentation from a group of lawyers.
Some knew they had drywall in their homes; some weren’t sure. Others were simply scared.
“We put our life savings in this house,” said Tonya Radi, a resident in Cobblestone Creek who moved in about eight months ago. “This is the house we thought we’d live in for the next 20 years. What if it’s not healthy? I’m pregnant right now. Or what if people move out, what will that do to my (homeowners association) fees?”
A number of homeowners in the section of Cobblestone Creek built by developer Northstar Homes have complained of air conditioning coils that failed, strange odors and tarnished jewelry. A few have torn out pieces of the drywall in their attic to find the name of a Chinese drywall manufacturer printed on the back, they said.
Northstar did not return calls for comment
State and federal authorities are helping to find answers for homeowners, but all say that answers may be a long time coming.
A team of investigators – including an electrical engineer and a toxicologist – from the Consumer Product Safety Commission was in Southwest Florida beginning Thursday, testing affected homes for electrical corrosion risks and health risks associated with the drywall, commission spokesman Joe Martyak confirmed.
He said he didn’t know whether the investigators would soon be looking at homes in Palm Beach County or the Treasure Coast, where state officials have received reports.
“The government doesn’t know enough to give us an answer about whether this is safe or not, so I’m not going to put my children at risk,” said Alli Sirota, a Cobblestone Creek homeowner.
She has two small children and another one on the way, she said, and so she and her husband are hiring movers to move into a temporary place.
“I just need to get out,” she said. “I need to think about this one small step at a time or I will go nuts.”
Jimmy Diamond, who said he now can’t sell his home because it’s worthless, added, “The builder probably didn’t even know he was putting in bad product. But it still (stinks) that we tried to sell this house and couldn’t because of this drywall.”
Source: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/business/epaper/2009/03/27/a1a_drywall_0328.html
Chinese drywall poses risks to Florida homeowners
Published: April 11, 2009
PARKLAND – At the height of the U.S. housing boom, when building materials were in short supply, American construction companies used millions of pounds of Chinese-made drywall because it was abundant and cheap.
Now that decision is haunting hundreds of homeowners and apartment dwellers who are concerned that the wallboard gives off fumes that can corrode copper pipes, blacken jewelry and silverware, and possibly sicken people.
Shipping records reviewed by The Associated Press indicate that imports of potentially tainted Chinese building materials exceeded 500 million pounds during a four-year period of soaring home prices. The drywall may have been used in more than 100,000 homes, according to some estimates, including houses rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina.
“This is a traumatic problem of extraordinary proportions,” said U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, a Florida Democrat who introduced a bill in the House calling for a temporary ban on the Chinese-made imports until more is known about their chemical makeup. Similar legislation has been proposed in the Senate.
What are Banks doing about Chinese Drywall
I would like to hear from people who have chinese drywall and contacted their Bank to put a freeze on their mortgage because they are now forced to move out of their house. Please tell me what the bank is doing for you.
Rep. Wexler visits homes with Chinese drywall
Reported by: Katie Brace
BOYNTON BEACH, FL — U.S. Representative Robert Wexler, (D) Boca Raton Florida, received a first-hand look at homes affected by tainted Chinese drywall. He toured homes in the Cobblestone Creek community in Boynton Beach. He says, “I don’t want to be an alarmist, but there are some potentially significant economic and health hazards that are akin to a hurricane.”
Heather DeSola and her husband have lived in the community for two years. They built their house and decorated it so it was perfect. The problem is the house is anything but. The house has the tell-tale signs of tainted Chinese drywall. The copper has turned black. The ac unit had to be replaced. Her jewelry has turned black. Most concerning – her family is now experiencing health problems.
Heather gets migraines, her oldest son has nose bleeds, both of her children have respiratory problems and her husband has horrible allergies.
Congressman Wexler and Florida’s Surgeon General both say more health studies need to be done. The Congressman says he’s filing legislation to provide tax deductions for homeowners who have to repair their homes affected by the drywall
The DeSola’s are not waiting. They are packing-up and hope to be out of their house by the weekend.
Congressman Wexler and Senator Bill Nelson are holding a town hall meeting Wednesday in West Palm Beach. It is being held in the Mayor’s Boardroom at 10:15.
Source: http://www.wptv.com/news/local/story/Rep-Wexler-visits-homes-with-Chinese-drywall/3GZNnUcigEOpheUPUWwfeQ.cspx
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Toxic Chinese Drywall Creates Big Headaches, and Much More
Two months ago I reported on the strange story of drywall manufactured in China that was allegedly emitting toxic odors and corroding plumbing and HVAC pipes in some new Florida homes. As I speculated at the time, this had the feel of a story that would be growing in significance in the months and years to come.
The Christian Science Monitor now reports that as many as 100,000 homes may be affected, with the reparation bill running into the billions of dollars. Florida homeowners are reporting a crazy list of symptoms arising from the presence of the sulfur-emitting drywall. They include “rotten egg” smell, rusted bath drains, dishwasher failure, discolored jewelry, and headaches and throat and sinus irritation.
Phew. All this from some drywall. At least so the victims have been led to believe. The U.S. suppliers and the builders refuse to take any responsibility, insurance companies claim they don’t know what to think and some lawmakers are urging the governor to declare the problem akin to a natural disaster. Suits have been filed, and some of the builders involved have declared bankruptcy. Meanwhile, some homeowners are stuck with houses they can neither live in safely nor repair. Some of the houses are being bulldozed. These are houses that are only a few years old!
What I have been unable to determine yet is where else this drywall ended up. Could any of us amateur remodelers have picked some up at the home improvement store? Did any of the stuff find its way to states other than Florida? Worth keeping an eye one, for sure.
Source: By Jeff Beneke, About.com Guide to Garages & Storage Spaces
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