Archive for May, 2009
Chinese drywall: Misleading information about public risk
By Phillip Goad
This is a response to the Sun Sentinel forum piece of May 3, 2009, “Chinese drywall spins off silent hurricane”:
The use of the term “toxic” is misleading to the public in reference to the recent drywall issue. My firm has been retained by Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin to perform third-party air sampling and to perform an independent examination of the results of similar sampling performed by other organizations.
KPT is the only drywall manufacturer that I am aware of to respond to builders’ complaints and conduct testing to ensure that there are no health risks to Florida homeowners.
The chemicals identified in testing performed thus far are naturally occurring, are present in the human body, and have been measured in human breath at concentrations similar to those we detected in our home sampling. There are some incorrect conclusions being made that have no scientific basis.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-drywall-goad-m0510sbmay10,0,5241956.story
Help could be on the way for victims of toxic Chinese drywall
WASHINGTON – While victims of toxic Chinese drywall flee their homes, South Florida members of Congress are looking for ways to help them avoid foreclosure and find affordable insurance.
The rescue starts with a proposed government study.
Congressmen Robert Wexler and Mario Diaz-Balart persuaded the House to approve a measure this week that directs the secretaries of housing and treasury to study the effect of tainted drywall on home mortgages and property insurance.
“Parents who have found Chinese drywall in their homes and wish to leave out of concern for the safety and health of their children are facing the dilemma of how to find secondary housing and maintain their mortgages on their primary residences,” said Wexler, D-Boca Raton. “In addition, the values of these homes in most cases have plummeted due to this tainted drywall.”
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-chinese-drywall-congress-050sbmay09,0,5359367.story
Buchanan works to assist homeowners with Chinese drywall
Buchanan supported an amendment to the Mortgage Reform and Predatory Lending Act (H.R. 1728) to require the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to study the effects of Chinese drywall on foreclosures and the availability of property insurance for residential structures with Chinese drywall.
“Defective Chinese drywall is taking its toll on thousands of homeowners,” said Buchanan on the floor of the House. “Many, including my constituent John Medico of Bradenton are now finding their homes uninhabitable.”
Medico says smell and contamination forced him to move from his new Greyhawk Landing home, forcing him to pay both a mortgage and rent.
Buchanan noted that many insurance companies are not covering the cost of replacement and relocation and encouraged banks and homebuilders to work with victims of Chinese drywall.
“Without any available assistance many homeowners are forced to decide whether to live in an impacted home or walk away and accept foreclosure in order to protect the safety of their family,” said Buchanan.
Earlier this year, Buchanan wrote the U.S. Trade Representative and Federal Trade Commission asking them to take all appropriate steps to confront this problem.
Under the bill, HUD would have 120 days to submit a report that provides Congress with a better understanding of how severely this crisis is impacting the housing market and allow Congress to take necessary action to protect and assist impacted homeowners.
Broward County mayor: Legislators torpedoed Chinese drywall aid
BY ALLISON ROSS
Palm Beach Post
Efforts to expand health testing and limit builder liability related to Chinese drywall got torpedoed this legislative session, Broward County Mayor Stacy Ritter told a group of homeowners, building contractors, real estate agents and bankers Monday.
One proposal had called for $400,000 in funding to go to the state department of health for Chinese drywall-related testing, Ritter told the group. And an amendment sponsored by Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, that proposed absolving certain homeowners, suppliers, contractors and installers of liability was withdrawn after being attached to at least three bills.
Ritter made her remarks at a lawyer-sponsored ”Toxic Drywall Roundtable” at the Heron Bay Marriott in Coral Springs.
Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist last week outlining plans to investigate Chinese drywall, and assuring the governor that the EPA is taking the issue seriously.
”I share your concerns and can assure you that EPA is working with our federal and state partners to address the challenges posed by imported Chinese drywall,” EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson wrote.
The letter came in response to one sent last month by Crist asking for federal assistance.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/1033040.html
Get out of house with Chinese drywall, doctor tells family
PARKLAND, Florida (CNN) — Yorelle Haroush fled a million-dollar South Florida home this week, chased out, she said, by drywall made in China that’s emitting vapors that smell like rotten eggs.
“It’s making me sick. Physically, mentally and emotionally, making me sick,” said the 18-year-old, who is pregnant with her first child.
Haroush lives with her aunt Amy Massachi and her four siblings and cousins in the house. They believe a year’s worth of upper respiratory infections, antibiotics, bloody noses and sickness have been caused by the walls.
Their doctor said they need to get out of the $1.2 million estate in Parkland, Florida, northwest of Fort Lauderdale.
“I said, ‘you can’t stay there anymore, because you’re sick every minute,’” the family’s longtime physician, Dr. Ross Nochimson, told CNN. “They’re sick on a weekly basis. Earaches, sore throat. I give them something, and they’re sick again.”
Massachi and her family are among homeowners in more than a dozen states who allege Chinese drywall has emitted corrosive gases they believe have given them health problems.
Homeowners also allege the gases corrode metal components including copper wiring, causing air conditioners and other household systems to fail. Read about homeowners’ allegations »
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says most of the complaints have come from Florida, where the concerns emerged last year. But consumers also have filed complaints in Louisiana, Virginia, Wisconsin, Ohio, Alabama, Mississippi, California, Washington, Wyoming, Arizona, Tennessee and Washington, D.C.
The Florida Department of Health says complaints it received — more than 330 as of Tuesday — generally involve homes built between 2004 and 2007.
A study done for the Florida health department by private laboratory Unified Engineering Inc. found that samples of certain Chinese drywall gave off a sulfurous odor from “volatile sulfur compounds” when exposed to extreme heat and moisture. It also found that vapors “in the residential atmosphere created a corrosive environment in the presence of moisture.”
The health effects of those vapors are still the subject of several scientific studies.
Odors and corrosion are clearly evident in the Massachi house.
The pungent, rotten-egg-like smell permeates the two-story home. Throughout the house, electrical outlets are open to reveal black corrosion on the copper wiring. The air conditioning unit’s air handler, inside the house, is blackened.
“This is disgusting. It’s so corroded. I can’t even believe it,” Amy Massachi said in a raspy voice. “I can’t breathe. Every morning, I wake up with sinus allergies, my voice is hoarse.
My mother, when I call her up on the phone, she says, ‘Amy, what’s wrong with your voice?’ and I say, ‘allergies.’
“‘What are you allergic to?’ I don’t know. Well, now I know. I’m allergic to my house. My house is making us sick.”
The doctor recommends they vacate their 18-month-old home.
“Before they bought this house, they weren’t calling every week with allergies and sore throats and ear aches and coughing,” Nochimson said. “I don’t know what more I can do for them.”
Haroush, who after giving birth faces heart surgery for an unrelated condition, is moving in with her grandmother.
“I’m graduating this year, and I’m having a baby, and I don’t need to be thinking about anything else going wrong, and any more stress that is on me,” she told CNN.
Chinese drywall was imported into the U.S. during a different economic era, at the height of a housing boom. Prices were sky high, and the country was hit by two active hurricane seasons in 2004 and 2005, increasing the demand for home repairs.
Suppliers were forced to look elsewhere for their drywall supply. Drywall, made from gypsum, is regularly imported from Mexico and Canada, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, but during this time frame, the U.S. looked to China to make up for the shortage.
The Gypsum Association told CNN that enough drywall was imported from China to build 30,000 complete homes.
Most of the Chinese drywall, they say, ended up in southwest Florida during the housing boom, where it was used in new housing developments.
Some was also used in remodeling projects all over the country, so the number of homes affected is difficult to calculate.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission hopes to have more answers in the coming months. They continue to test the Chinese drywall, including controlled tests in chambers and real-world air sampling tests in homes, to determine how the drywall interacts with other elements in an average house.
“We don’t deny there’s a problem,” spokesman Joe Martyak said. But there has been no positive link to adverse health effects.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/06/florida.chinese.drywall.family/index.html
Federal Chinese Drywall Probe Revving Up
Problems with defective Chinese drywall have prompted the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) to ask for emergency funds from Congress. According to palmbeachpost.com, the funds will be used for expenses related to the CPSC’s Chinese drywall probe.
Chinese drywall has been causing problems in newer homes across the country. The material reportedly emits sulfur fumes that fill homes with a “rotten eggs” odor. The fumes from the drywall have also been linked to corroding metals in many of the homes, and people living with the material have reported sinus and respiratory problems. Many residents have had to leave their homes because the Chinese drywall has made them unlivable, and some builders are scrambling to gut homes and replace the drywall.
Building Industry Experts Join Forces to Find Solutions to Toxic Chinese Drywall Problem
One of the leading forensic experts on building envelope water intrusion and toxic mold, Spiderman Mulholland, is joining forces with a network of professionals to combat the Toxic Chinese Drywall issues facing the United States today.
Collaborating with top toxicologists, chemists, material and building scientists, forensic investigators, remediation and construction specialists and individuals with laboratory and inspection expertise is essential to the research efforts.
The group intends to plan and implement a cost-effective program aimed at battling the crisis that has impacted 41 states.
Mulholland, a leading expert witness in Toxic Chinese Drywall cases, is currently developing protocols for inspections and remediation.
“Our main focus is being driven by the needs of homeowners and the serious life-safety issues we believe could be critical to their well-being,” Mulholland said.
Chinese drywall was installed in more than 100,000 homes between 2004 and 2006. Among the highly toxic compounds being found are hydrogen sulfide, sulfuric acid, sulfur dioxide and carbon disulfide. Prolonged exposure can cause serious problems to the nervous system.
The manufacturer has acknowledged that the drywall is defective, but emphasizes that not all China drywall from that period is tainted. Recent findings show that some U.S. stamped drywall may also be toxic.
Given the rise in health complaints, residents are advised to be aware of symptoms including nose bleeds, headaches, coughs, upper respiratory or sinus issues, eye irritation, fatigue, difficulty breathing, body aches and rashes.
Physical evidence includes HVAC-unit failure or electrical appliances, copper coils turning black, corroded electrical wiring, tarnished silver jewelry or utensils and light bulbs burning out at a faster rate.
Although the smell of rotten eggs in a home could indicate a toxic drywall problem, Mulholland’s investigations show that is not always the case.
Some groups are relying on air sampling methods to determine drywall problems; however that method is unreliable, Mulholland says.
Mulholland’s company, US Building Consultants Inc. has an accredited testing facility that can determine toxic-drywall problems. He inspects and consults in drywall cases.