Dangerous Chinese Drywall in American Homes

Does your house smell like rotten eggs? Do your lights flicker for no reason? Are you suffering from dizzy spells, swollen joints, nose bleeds, rashes, or headaches? If you?re nodding your head yes you may be a victim of a Chinese drywall nightmare. Other symptoms include corroded household wiring and air conditioning coils and discoloration in wood furniture. The alleged cause is high levels of hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas that affects the nervous system, issuing from contaminated drywall made in some Chinese factories. There have been at least four class action lawsuits filed in Florida and others have been filed in California, Louisiana, and Alabama against builders that used the toxic drywall in the construction of new homes. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating the complaints and if the drywall proves positive, there will be tens of thousands of potentially affected homes involved. Recently a preliminary report was released by the Florida Department of Health that shows samples of sulfur gases were found in samples of Chinese drywall. It?s feared the affected homes

will add to the already huge numbers of foreclosures. Most of the homes built with Chinese drywall were built during the housing boom between 2005 and 2006, which were also the homes that lost the most in value. Add to that the health risks of living in such a home and it seems the easiest way out for many of these homeowners might be to just walk away. During the housing boom drywall became a hot commodity; supply couldn?t keep up with the demand which prompted suppliers to look for other sources such as China. During the ?boom? more than 550 million pounds of it was imported and shipped to the U.S. with the bulk landing in Florida. Chinese drywall was used to build over 60,000 homes in over a dozen states. Who?s suing whom? The homeowners are suing the construction companies, the construction companies are suing the suppliers, the suppliers are suing the manufacturers in China, and China is denying any wrongdoing. (more…)

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Dangerous Chinese Drywall in American Homes

One Response to “Dangerous Chinese Drywall in American Homes”

Rick Hollister says:

April 10, 2009 at 1:16 pm

I think it is a little premature to put a number on this case. We have not yet agreed on the analytical testing. We have not even determined the remedial scope or protocols will be to clean this mess up. Good luck getting any money out of the Chinese companies. Then there are the insurance companies. Some of the contractors and distributors are not even covered for this so the insurance companies will say. We do not know what long term damage to the health or the property is going to be. Too many questions are still unanswered.
I have met with some of the top experts in the IAQA field and from around the country in the last month and as an environmental investigator and consultant for 15 years, I think we have a long road ahead of us. Beware of any guarantee solutions to fixing the problem i.e. fogs, foam, sprays. We don’t even know if this stuff has embedded itself into the wooden substrates in the wall. We have been getting calls from Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana and Mississippi and now have evidence of possible fraud that may be able to be linked to either the manufacture or distributors.
We would be interested in hearing from other people experiencing Chinese Sheetrock problems as every case seems to have different details and precursors. We are putting a team of experts together to tackle the long term effects and to opine on the scope and protocols to properly remediate the homes and all the effected personal property.
Rick Hollister CEI, CMR, CLI
Environmental Administrators, Inc
Tallahassee, Fl.
rhollister@environmentaladministrators.com

One Response to “Dangerous Chinese Drywall in American Homes”

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