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Update February 3, 2009

Update April 3, April 11,  April 17, April 24, May 19, June 11 - 2009

 

Drywall problems may just be beginning

In the spring of 2006, the cargo ship Great Immensity headed toward Florida's west coast. Its destination? The Port of Tampa.

In its hold? More than 16 million pounds of Chinese drywall manufactured by Knauf Tianjin -- enough to potentially make more than 1,700 homes.

The Great Immensity's shipment was one of hundreds that have arrived on American shores since January 2006, a Herald-Tribune analysis of shipping data shows.

All told, at least 550 million pounds of Chinese drywall have come into the United States since 2006. With that quantity, some experts say, you could construct 60,000 average-size homes.

Builders who used the material, like Miami-based Lennar Corp., acknowledge that the gases being emitted from some of the Chinese drywall are the cause of the corrosion eating away at the guts of homes. The gases have blackened metal components such as coils and wiring. Homeowners have reported televisions, computers and other electronics failing, and even silver jewelry turning black.

But Lennar, other builders and at least one of the manufacturers point to scientific tests they commissioned showing that the amount of sulfur compounds being emitted is below the amount that federal guidelines say could endanger human health.

"What we aimed to do is figure out whether the air inside those homes was a health concern, and we found there was none," said Robert P. DeMott, managing principal of Environ International Corp., which conducted the investigation for Lennar.

Residents, some with small children and some who have moved from their homes, remain unconvinced. Many have told the Herald-Tribune of similar health problems, including chronic respiratory ailments, sinus and eye pain, headaches and nosebleeds. In many of those cases, the symptoms diminished when residents moved out.

Dan Tibbetts, one of 23 affected homeowners on Montauk Point Crossing in Manatee County's Heritage Harbour neighborhood, said he has no doubt that he, his wife and even his dog got sick because of the material. Since moving out in December, their health has begun to improve.

"It's still lingering a little bit with my sinuses, but overall we're doing much better now; the dog is getting back to normal, too," Tibbetts said Friday.

To date, Florida health officials have logged more than 50 complaints. Lennar has confirmed 80 of its homes in Sarasota, Manatee, Lee and Collier counties have the Chinese product and another 40 may have it. Two more homes have been identified in Miami-Dade. Taylor Morrison Homes also used Chinese drywall in the Greenbrook neighborhood of Lakewood Ranch and in Crystal Lakes in Palmetto.

List could grow

Given how much of the material came to the U.S. at the tail end of the housing boom, the list could lengthen.

The Herald-Tribune's analysis was done using a shipping database obtained from the Port Import Export Reporting Service, or PIERS, the primary source of U.S. waterborne import-export trade data. The company maintains individual records taken directly from ships' manifests.

The analysis covered shipments entering the country beginning in January 2006. More Chinese drywall is also believed to have been imported during 2004 and 2005, but full records for those years have not yet been obtained.

The shipments were unloaded at more than two dozen ports throughout the United States -- seven in Florida -- and carried cargo exported by more than 100 companies.

Nearly 60 percent of the drywall -- also known as wallboard, gypsum board or plasterboard -- came in through Florida ports. Miami was the largest, with more than 100 million pounds of Chinese drywall unloaded, followed by Port Everglades with at least 80 million pounds and Tampa with at least 50 million.

Other destinations included Port Manatee in northern Manatee County, Pensacola, Port Canaveral and Jacksonville.

While Florida has so far been the primary focus of public officials and builders, the shipping records show more than a dozen other states got the Chinese product, from New York to Texas to California.

The Herald-Tribune found at least 60 million pounds of Chinese drywall came into New Orleans in 2006 and another 27 million into Pascagoula, Miss., two areas with post-Hurricane Katrina rebuilding. To date, no reports of Chinese drywall from the area have been received by state or federal health authorities.

Most of the New Orleans shipments were from Chinese subsidiaries of the German-based company Knauf, which has been identified as one of the problematic producers.

Knauf Tianjin

Knauf's operation in Tianjin, Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Ltd., has been of particular concern. The company's drywall has been found to be defective throughout Southwest Florida.

It was sued last week in a class-action complaint filed in Sarasota County circuit court.

Knauf Tianjin officials have acknowledged they received complaints from builders and contractors about the smell of their product in 2006, and that a 2008 investigation showed copper corrosion was potentially connected to sulfur gases coming from the material. But like Lennar, the company claims the sulfur compounds are not hazardous to humans.

From January to September 2006, five separate ships unloaded 52 million pounds of Chinese-made Knauf drywall in New Orleans, three-quarters from Knauf Tianjin. Shipments to Florida also were extensive, both directly and through exporter Rothchilt International. At least 37 million pounds of Knauf drywall was shipped directly from three sites in China to Florida through Tampa and Port Canaveral.

Knauf Tianjin sent an additional amount -- which company officials would only describe as "most" of its drywall -- into Miami through Rothchilt.

The first Knauf shipment into Florida -- 11 million pounds -- arrived at Port Canaveral in March 2006 aboard the "Afra" from a Knauf subsidiary in Guangdong, China.

Knauf Tianjin maintains that each of the Knauf subsidiaries in China is a separate operation and should not be thought of as part of the same company.

"They are separate corporations that operate separate facilities in completely different locations in China," said Melisa Chantres, a spokeswoman for Knauf Tianjin.

But shipping records show what appears to be coordination between Knauf's Chinese subsidiaries: sharing the same vessel to transport their product to the U.S. In April 2006, the "Yong An Cheng" took three shipments from Knauf's Wuhu, China, operation and a fourth from Guangdong to the U.S. All were imported by USG Corp., one of the largest manufacturers of domestic drywall in the U.S. market.

Sorting good from bad

Another Chinese drywall manufacturer that is known to be causing problems for homeowners in Florida is Taian Taishan Plasterboard, based in Taian, China.

In 2007, after the boom was over and most Chinese drywall manufacturers stopped shipping to the U.S., records show Taishan continued sending sizable quantities, primarily to New York and Port Everglades. In summer 2007, three shipments entered Port Everglades, totaling 3 million pounds.

Taishan's largest market overall, and by far its most active, was New York. From 2006 to 2007, ships bearing Taishan drywall docked at least two dozen times at ports there, unloading more than 4.5 million pounds of the material.

Experts caution that not all Chinese manufacturers produced defective materials.

"Just because it says 'China' does not mean it's definitely bad," said Michael Foreman, head of Sarasota construction consulting firm Foreman & Associates, which is investigating the issue. "It's like anything else, there are bad manufacturers we've identified and many more to come. But there are also good manufacturers of board that just happen to be in China. Sorting the good from the bad is what we're all trying to do right now."

Part of the challenge is that some Chinese drywall found in affected homes has been "generic," or not marked properly with its manufacturer, making tracing its origins difficult.

At Port Manatee, Capt. Rasmus Okland said he thinks he knows where there is some good Chinese board: in his company's warehouse. And it is for sale.

"I remember when things were booming, some of the stuff that came through was just garbage," said Okland, terminal manager for the Port Manatee Forestry Terminal. "But this board is very good quality. We're very comfortable it has no problems. After more than two years having it here, it's never smelled bad."

More than 100,000 sheets of 12-by-4 standard drywall manufactured by C&K Gypsum came into Port Manatee in September 2006, but the shipment was abruptly abandoned on the docks by the importer. Records show the drywall originated in Shandong, China, and was imported by York Building Supply, an affiliate of Georgia-based A1 Construction.

"I remember the ship came in over a weekend," Okland said. "When we talked to them on Friday all was good, but on Monday they didn't answer the phone. Then a week later we got a letter saying they were declaring bankruptcy and directing us to a lawyer's office."

As the bankruptcy case wove through the courts in 2007, the trustee for York eventually allowed Okland to sell off the drywall to help cover the losses his company was incurring to store the material. Okland said several companies told him outright that they knew of problems with Chinese board and turned him down.

"It was well known in the industry by that time, so there was already a stigma associated with any board from China, no matter who made it," he said.

Several drywall contractors were so sure he would not sell the material, they offered to take it for free. Eventually, though, two companies began buying it. Today, about 39,000 sheets remain -- stacked high in more than two dozen rows of large pallets.

Okland did not identify the buyers, but said they have experienced no problems. "They're quite confident in its quality; we're all comfortable there's no concern," he said.

After speaking with Okland, the Herald-Tribune learned that Foreman, the construction consultant, was recently given permission to test a piece of the Port Manatee board. Foreman said an extensive chemical analysis would take several weeks, but that early tests for odors have been promising.

"So far it looks like it may be good, but we'll have to see what the analysis results show," he said.

Update Story - Herald Tribune

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Update February 3, 2009

 

Builder files lawsuits in Chinese drywall case

Lennar Corp. has filed a major lawsuit against a lengthy list of manufacturers, suppliers and installers whose products or services were used by the company in the construction of its homes carrying Chinese drywall.

The suit from the Miami-based home builder over the drywall issue comes on top of two class-action suits filed on behalf of homeowners in Sarasota County and North Fort Myers.

Gases being emitted from the Chinese-made drywall have been tied to corrosion eating away at the guts of people's homes. Some Southwest Florida residents say the gases also have been harmful to their health, a charge the builders and manufacturers dispute.

The Sarasota class-action suit was filed early last week on behalf of lead plaintiff Kristin Culliton, a Lakewood Ranch resident whose Taylor Morrison home contains drywall manufactured by Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co. Ltd., a Chinese subsidiary of German-based manufacturer Knauf.

Lennar -- one of the other builders who used the Chinese material -- filed a 105-page lawsuit late last week in Miami-Dade circuit court. Lennar also is suing both Knauf Tianjin and its German parent, along with a second manufacturer, Taishan Gypsum.

The Herald-Tribune reported Sunday that both Knauf and Taishan have shipped millions of pounds of drywall to Florida and other states since 2006.

Lennar claims the manufacturers made a "deficient and defective" product, and "failed to establish proper quality control for detecting defects and failed to warn their customers that the drywall was defective," a company statement said.

"The manufacturers either knew or should have known that this drywall was defective and not appropriate for use in homes," said Mark Sustana, Lennar's general counsel, in the statement.

Knauf Tianjin, in a statement Monday, said the Lennar suit was "an unneeded distraction from seeking solutions to the issues facing Florida homeowners," and that it "will only delay resolution of the issue."

"The company will not be a scapegoat for home builders who would seek a quick and convenient bailout based on false claims. The company intends to vigorously defend its good name and reputation," Knauf Tianjin officials said.

Lennar's suit charges eight drywall suppliers, and 12 installers or subcontractors, which the company says are collectively responsible for Chinese drywall being used in dozens of Florida homes.

Lennar officials maintain that the drywall was bought and used without their company's knowledge.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for the harm to Lennar's reputation, as well as damages for the costs associated with investigating the problem and the repairs the company is planning to do, which will likely include gutting the affected houses and replacing all of the drywall and components like wiring and other metals.

Lennar has said it so far has identified at least 80 Southwest Florida homes that have defective Chinese drywall, and the company is investigating another 40. At least two Lennar homes in Miami-Dade also are known to be affected.

As of Monday, the number of overall complaints received by the Florida Department of Health had grown to more than 65. The department has so far taken its own samples of drywall from about a dozen of the affected homes, and is now having them sent for laboratory analysis. The preliminary tests are expected to take about 45 days, with further tests to follow.

A Herald-Tribune analysis of shipping records found that the amount of Chinese-manufactured drywall imported into the United States since 2006 was potentially enough to build more than 60,000 homes nationwide. Shipments landing at Florida ports alone contained enough material to build 36,000 homes.

U.S. agency sets drywall inquiry

Update Story - Herald Tribune

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Update April 3, 2009

Chinese drywall controversy makes its way to Birmingham Alabama

The toxic Chinese drywall plaguing most of the Gulf Coast may have been used in the construction of homes in the Birmingham area.

The drywall was imported into the U.S between 2005 and 2008 and used particularly in 2006, when there was a shortage of building supplies after several hurricanes and during the building boom.

The toxic material, which is known to emit a sulfuric compound that corrodes metals and may cause upper respiratory problems, has sparked at least two class action lawsuits out of Alabama against drywall manufacturer Knauf, in addition to numerous others from all over the Southeast.

The Alabama Department of Public Health and the Greater Birmingham Association of Home Builders said they have not received any complaints or reports of problems due to the imported drywall.

But a class action suit was filed earlier this month in the Northern district of Alabama on behalf of homeowners affected by the problem and a Mobile-based home builder filed a class action lawsuit in Florida on behalf of home builders.

Steve Mullins, the Mississippi attorney representing the homeowners, said he recently put ads in Alabama newspapers about the lawsuit and the majority of the calls he received were from the Birmingham area.

“There’s no explanation,” he said. “You would think it would be in Mobile because that’s where you find the most. But we’ve gotten calls from the Birmingham area - about 10 to one compared to Mobile.”

Mullins said it’s still uncertain how much of the toxic drywall was imported into the U.S., but it seems it was more prevalently distributed to and sold by secondary building supply companies and local shops across the Southeast.

“I don’t think the big guys sold it because of their contracts with (U.S. companies),” he said, referring to companies like Lowe’s and Home Depot.

Steven L. Nicholas, the Mobile attorney representing the home builder, said he’s in the beginning stages of tracking the distribution of the drywall in Alabama.

But, he said, “We believe that the product was distributed through two to three, at least, building supply distributors in the Birmingham area.”

A Birmingham area homeowner, who agreed to speak to the Business Journal on terms of anonymity, said, after experiencing problems, he identified he had drywall from China in his home, which was built in 2006 and purchased in 2007.

After moving into his home – in a new subdivision off the U.S. 280 corridor – he had problems hanging photos and his television because the drywall was brittle, he said.

“It just didn’t seem to be the quality we were accustomed to,” he said.

Earlier this year, when he read about cases in Florida he said he went into the attic, pulled back the insulation and determined from the stamp on the drywall that it was made in China.

Since then, he’s been awaiting word from his builder on what should be done, he said.

“I’ve been to the doctor with severe respiratory problems and my wife has been in the emergency room because of nosebleeds,” he said. “Is this part of the problem? I don’t know.”

While no complaints have been reported to the local home builders association, the National Association of Home Builders is equipping local groups with important talking points and advice for builders, said Lurenda Avery, spokeswoman for the Birmingham group.

The association is encouraging builders to be proactive about the situation, she said – recommending that they consult qualified legal counsel, gather construction and warranty documents, be knowledgeable and accessible to respond to concerns and have a legal, financial and public relations plan in place to respond.

“What they’re saying right now is that the builders are just as much a victim,” she said. “But the sooner a decision is made the better.”

This week, two U.S. senators from Florida and Louisiana filed new legislation calling for a recall of high-sulfur Chinese drywall in response to hundreds of complaints of corroding metal and odors in homes.

The Florida Department of Health and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission have launched investigations to determine the extent of the drywall problem in that state and Louisiana is taking similar measures.

In a Monday press release, the senators from Florida and Louisiana said the drywall problem could affect some 36,000 homes in Florida and up to 100,000 nationwide.

Both Mullins and Nicholas said while a sulfur odor in a new home may indicate the product was used, the main indicator would be if the homeowner has had to replace air conditioning coils more than once over the past few years.

Also, they said, home owners can look on the back of the drywall, possibly in the attic, to see if it has any Chinese markings or is stamped “Made in China.”

Update Story - Birmingham Business Journal

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Update April 11, 2009

Chinese drywall poses potential risks

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.

The drywall apparently causes a chemical reaction that gives off a rotten-egg stench, which grows worse with heat and humidity.

Researchers do not know yet what causes the reaction, but possible culprits include fumigants sprayed on the drywall and material inside it. The Chinese drywall is also made with a coal byproduct called fly ash that is less refined than the form used by U.S. drywall makers.

Dozens of homeowners in the Southeast have sued builders, suppliers and manufacturers, claiming the very walls around them are emitting smelly sulfur compounds that are poisoning their families and rendering their homes uninhabitable.

"It's like your hopes and dreams are just gone," said Mary Ann Schultheis, who has suffered burning eyes, sinus headaches, and a general heaviness in her chest since moving into her brand-new, 4,000-square foot house in this tidy South Florida suburb a few years ago.

She has few options. Her builder is in bankruptcy, the government is not helping and her lender will not give her a break.

"I'm just going to cry," she said. "We don't know what we're going to do."

Builders have filed their own lawsuits against suppliers and manufacturers, claiming they unknowingly used the bad building materials.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating, as are health departments in Virginia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Florida and Washington state.

Companies that produced some of the wallboard said they are looking into the complaints, but downplayed the possibility of health risks.

"What we're trying to do is get to the bottom of what is precisely going on," said Ken Haldin, a spokesman for Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin, a Chinese company named in many of the lawsuits.

The Chinese ministries of commerce, construction and industry and the Administration of Quality Supervision Inspection and Quarantine did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Chinese news reports have said AQSIQ, which enforces product quality standards, was investigating the complaints but people in the agency's press office said they could not confirm that.

Meanwhile, governors in Louisiana and Florida are asking for federal assistance, and experts say the problem is only now beginning to surface.

"Based on the amount of material that came in, it's possible that just in one year, 100,000 residences could be involved," said Michael Foreman, who owns a construction consulting firm. The company has performed tests on some 200 homes in the Sarasota area and has been tracking shipments of the drywall.

Federal authorities say they are investigating just how much of the wallboard was imported. Shipping records analyzed by the AP show that more than 540 million pounds of plasterboard — which includes both drywall and ceiling tile panels — was imported from China between 2004 and 2008, although it's unclear whether all of that material was problematic or only certain batches.

Most of it came into the country in 2006, following a series of Gulf Coast hurricanes and a domestic shortage brought on by the national housing boom.

The Chinese board was also cheaper. One homeowner told AP he saved $1,000 by building his house with it instead of a domestic product.

In 2006, enough wallboard was imported from China to build some 34,000 homes of roughly 2,000 square feet each, according to AP's analysis of the shipping records and estimates supplied by the nationwide drywall supplier United States Gypsum.

Experts and advocates say many homes may have been built with a mixture of Chinese and domestic drywall, potentially raising the number of affected homes much higher.

So far, the problem appears to be concentrated in the Southeast, which blossomed with new construction during the housing boom and where the damp climate appears to cause the gypsum in the building material to degrade more quickly. In Florida alone, more than 35,000 homes may contain the product, experts said.

In Louisiana, the state health department has received complaints from at least 350 people in just a few weeks. Many of the affected homeowners rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina only to face the prospect of tearing down their houses and rebuilding again.

In another cruel twist, some of the very communities that have been hit hardest by the collapse of the housing market and skyrocketing foreclosure rates are now at the epicenter of the drywall problem.

Foreman warns of a "sleeping beast" in the thousands of bank-owned condos and houses across the country, with no one in them to complain.

Outside the South, it's harder to pinpoint the number of affected homes. And in drier climates such as California and Nevada, it may be years before homeowners begin to see — and smell — what may be lurking inside their walls.

The drywall furor is the latest in a series of scares over potentially toxic imports from China. In 2007, Chinese authorities ratcheted up inspections and tightened restrictions on exports after manufacturers were found to have exported tainted cough syrup, a toxic pet food ingredient and toys decorated with lead paint.

Scientists hope to understand the problem by studying the chemicals in the board. Drywall consists of wide, flat boards used to cover walls. It is often made from gypsum, a common mineral that can be mined or manufactured from the byproducts of coal-fired power plants.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuits, as well as U.S. wallboard manufacturers, say the tainted drywall was made with fly ash, a residue of coal combustion more commonly used in concrete mixtures.

Fly ash can be gathered before it ever reaches the smokestack, where technology is used to remove sulfur dioxide from the emissions. The process of "scrubbing" the smokestack emissions creates calcium sulfate, or gypsum, which can then used to make wallboard, experts say.

Haldin, the Knaupf Tianjin spokesman, says some domestic drywall is also made from the less-refined fly ash.

But Michael Gardner, executive director of the U.S. Gypsum Association, said American manufacturers gather the gypsum from the smokestacks after the scrubbing, which produces a cleaner product.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has dispatched teams of toxicologists, electrical engineers and other experts to Florida to study the phenomenon. The commission is also working with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to determine whether there is a health hazard.

A Florida Department of Health analysis found the Chinese drywall emits "volatile sulfur compounds," and contains traces of strontium sulfide, which can produce the rotten-egg odor and reacts with air to corrode metals and wires.

But the agency says on its Web site that it "has not identified data suggesting an imminent or chronic health hazard at this time."

"We're continuing to test," said Susan Smith, a spokeswoman for the department, which has logged 230 complaints from homeowners.

Dr. Patricia Williams, a University of New Orleans toxicologist hired by a Louisiana law firm that represents plaintiffs in some of the cases, said she has identified highly toxic compounds in the drywall, including hydrogen sulfide, sulfuric acid, sulfur dioxide and carbon disulfide.

Prolonged exposure to the compounds, especially high levels of carbon disulfide, can cause breathing problems, chest pains and even death; and can affect the nervous system, according to the CDC.

"It is absolutely shocking what is happening," Williams said.

Dr. Phillip Goad, a toxicologist hired by Knaupf Plasterboard Tianjin, sampled drywall from 25 homes, some that contained the company's wallboard and some that did not.

"The studies we have performed to date have identified very low levels of naturally occurring compounds," Goad said. "The levels we have detected do not present a public health concern. The chemicals are naturally occurring. They're produced in ocean water, in salt marsh air, in estuaries."

But those who are living with it are convinced that something is making them sick, including dozens of homeowners in a single subdivision in Parkland, about 50 miles north of Miami. They are now faced with a daunting choice: Tear down and rebuild, or move out and be stuck with a mortgage and a home they cannot sell.

"We are particularly concerned about the safety and well-being of our children," said Holly Krulik, who lives down the street from Mary Ann Schultheis.

She and her husband, Doug, are suffering sinus problems and respiratory ailments, and their young daughter has repeated nose bleeds.

"If a shiny copper coil can turn absolutely black within a matter of months, it certainly can't be good for human beings," Krulik said.

Neighbor John Willis is moving out, even though he can hardly afford to walk away from a house he's owned for just three years. He cries as he speaks of his 3-year-old son's respiratory infection, which eventually required surgery.

"They basically took out a substance that looked like rubber cement out of my 3-year-old son's sinuses," he said. "My wife and I are now faced with the choice between our children's health and our financial health. My children are always going to win on that."

The subdivision's builder, WCI Communities, is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring and can do little more than log complaints, said spokeswoman Connie Boyd.

The federal government does not regulate the chemical ingredients of imported drywall.

Plasterboard Tianjin said it has been making drywall for 10 years in accordance with U.S. and international standards.

Another Chinese company facing lawsuits, Taishan Gypsum Ltd., also insists that it meets all U.S. standards.

Determining what is causing the problems could take months. Researchers will try to recreate in a lab the conditions that caused the sulfur compounds normally found in drywall to give off noxious gases.

Meanwhile, people like Lisa Sich, 43, are left with more questions than answers. Sich has not felt well since moving into the Henderson, Nev., apartment she rents less than a year ago, and her silverware quickly tarnished.

"I can hear myself wheezing," said Sich, who is having environmental experts test the apartment, built in 2007. "My eyes are constantly itchy, extreme fatigue."

And while Sich is not even certain she's got the bad wallboard, she has not felt like herself in months. She's missed five weeks of work just since Thanksgiving.

"I'm just tired all the time," she said. "It doesn't make sense."

Original Story - AP

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Update April 17, 2009

Homeowner Problems With Chinese-Made Drywall Spread

Complaints about foul-smelling Chinese-made drywall that first emerged in a few dozen homes in Florida in January have spread to hundreds of homes in several states, fueling controversy over the Chinese import.

Fearing that the construction material is making them sick, homeowners are moving out of their houses, filing lawsuits and demanding help from lawmakers. Two U.S. senators have proposed a temporary ban on certain Chinese drywall imports. A Chinese government agency is also investigating, according to a Chinese news report.

The actual health effects of the drywall, which is commonly used to construct interior walls, are still unknown. While homeowners attribute bloody noses, sinus problems and headaches to the drywall, the Florida health department said there is no evidence that gases being emitted from the construction material pose a serious health risk.

"It seems most likely that it's a nasty odor problem, as opposed to something acutely toxic," said Morton Lippmann, a professor of environmental medicine at New York University, who reviewed recent Florida health department's findings on Chinese drywall for The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Lippmann isn't involved in any of the lawsuits that have been filed against drywall manufacturers.

Other researchers said the sulfur-based gases coming from the drywall may exacerbate existing sinus issues and cause respiratory problems. The type of drywall at issue is made primarily from the naturally occurring mineral gypsum. Some of the drywall has been traced to a mine in the Shandong province of China, according to a spokeswoman for one drywall manufacturer, Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co., a subsidiary of a large German construction-material company, Knauf International GmbH, that used the mine.

"Sulfur compound gases, even at low levels, have been found to cause respiratory problems," such as asthma, said Nachman Brautbar, a toxicologist and clinical professor emeritus at the University of Southern California School of Medicine, who also reviewed the health-department findings for the Journal, and isn't involved in the legal dispute. "This clearly needs more study." [Black oxidation covers a copper air-conditioner pipe. The owners of the Stuart, Fla., townhome where they discovered faulty drywall say a sulfur gas is being emitted, and it is corroding copper wiring and pipes in the wall.] ZUMA

Black oxidation covers a copper air-conditioner pipe. The owners of the Stuart, Fla., townhome where they discovered faulty drywall say a sulfur gas is being emitted, and it is corroding copper wiring and pipes in the wall.

In China, some industry officials defended their drywall's quality and suggested the controversy may be stoked by protectionism.

"The U.S. credit crisis has caused the real estate market to collapse, and as a result domestic drywall manufacturers have seen their sales suffer and their product is relatively expensive compared to the Chinese-made drywall, so we should also consider these issues," Xu Luoyi, head of the National Building Materials Industrial Technology Supervisory Research Center, said in a recent Chinese news report.

A big obstacle facing U.S. authorities investigating the matter is that the Chinese manufacturer isn't always clearly identified on the drywall.

Executives at one Chinese manufacturer named in a drywall-related lawsuit, Taishan Gypsum, couldn't be reached for comment. Meanwhile, Knauf Tianjin said it has been cooperating with U.S. and Chinese authorities. Knauf Tianjin officials said the company has been unfairly singled out because it has acknowledged the issue, while other manufacturers have been less forthcoming.

The U.S. imported roughly 309 million square feet of drywall from China during the housing boom from 2004 to 2007, according to the Gypsum Association, a trade group. While that is a fraction of the drywall used in the U.S., it is enough to build roughly 35,000 houses. The number of houses containing Chinese product could be higher, however, because some houses use a mix of domestic and imported drywall.

Not all of the Chinese drywall is likely to lead to the type of problems that homeowners in Florida, and now Virginia, Alabama and other states are reporting. Drywall problems are also surfacing in the New Orleans area, in homes that were refurbished after Hurricane Katrina.

Some homeowners who have found Chinese-imported drywall in their newly built houses, say their jewelry, pennies and electrical wiring have turned black. Researchers believe the sulfur-based gases from the drywall may be corroding the metal.

The drywall issue is touching nerves that have been frayed by the housing crash. "When the housing market comes back, my home's value isn't coming back," said Rene Galvin, who has moved out of her Bonita Springs, Fla., home that she bought for her retirement and is suing her builder and the drywall manufacturer because of drywall concerns.

Original Story - Wall Street Journal

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Update April 24, 2009

Consumers warned of drywall repair scams

Homeowners who suspect their houses were built with defective drywall could be further victimized by offers to repair or inspect the problems.

As dozens of South Florida homeowners grapple with worries about potential health problems and appliance corrosion caused by the drywall lining their homes, scam artists have found a way to capitalize on the situation.

On Thursday, the Florida attorney general warned that bogus test kits, costly home inspection offers, chemical cleaners and ozone generators are among the deceptive sales pitches targeting homeowners.

But the presence of defective drywall can't be determined by testing the air in a home or fixed with a spray or ozone generator -- and these supposed remedies may actually make the situation worse, the attorney general's office said.

Homeowners can tell if they have faulty drywall by asking the home builder, an air conditioning technician or by having a home inspector check out the house.

If a home has flawed drywall, black corrosion appears on copper air conditioner coils and uninsulated copper wiring. Most homes with the defective material were built between 2004 and 2008, the attorney general's office said.

So far, builders are the only ones calling about the scams, but they wanted to warn consumers before they are victimized.

The Florida Department of Health is still assessing what health risks are associated with the drywall. The suspect material is believed to have been manufactured in China.

As of Thursday, the Health Department had received more than 300 complaints from around the state, including from homeowners in Miami, Parkland, Homestead, Fort Lauderdale and Davie. Six suits have been filed this week in federal court in Miami and West Palm Beach.

A Homestead couple filed a class-action lawsuit earlier this year against builder South Kendall Construction Corp. and drywall supplier Banner Supply Company.

According to the suit, after moving into their home in 2008, Jason and Melissa Harrell's children begin suffering respiratory problems, and Jason Harrell began having headaches. Their air conditioner and other appliances became unreliable or stopped working altogether, and black soot appeared in various places around the house.

Another couple has filed a federal class-action lawsuit against a Chinese drywall manufacturer, Knauf Plasterboard (Tianjin) Co.

Miami home builder Lennar, the target of some complaints about questionable drywall, has denied that it ever ordered the imported material from China. Lennar has also sued Knauf, alleging it failed to warn the home builder its plasterboard was defective.

A Davie attorney working with homeowners complaining about the drywall said this week his own offices were built with the problematic material, the Palm Beach Post reported.

During a town hall meeting Monday, attorney Frank Toral of Toral, Garcia & Franz said he and his partners discovered the problem a couple of weeks ago, when they realized that the symptoms many homeowners were describing matched problems they were having in their building.

Sherri and Ira Rojhani stopped paying the mortgage on their 2-year-old South Florida home in April, victims not of a troubled economy, but, they say, of drywall from China that they believe is making them sick.

They join a growing list of homeowners in 13 states who face foreclosure or the prospect of paying both their mortgage and rent on alternate housing as they seek relief from what they describe as corrosive gasses emitted from the Chinese drywall. The drywall is now the subject of several scientific studies.

"Families are being forced to make health decisions based on financial consideration, and that is fundamentally flawed," said Sherri Rojhani, a homeowner in Parkland, Florida. "We shouldn't be in a position to stay in a home, based on our health," she said.

Homeowners allege the gas is causing home appliances and copper wiring to fail and causes chronic, long-term upper respiratory infections.

Federal authorities including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission are studying the possible health effects of the drywall. Most of their results are still some time off.

On Tuesday the EPA announced that it found sulfur, a corrosive material, in the Chinese drywall samples it tested and that sulfur was not found in the U.S. manufactured drywall samples it also tested. The EPA also found strontium in the Chinese drywall at levels about 10 times higher than in the U.S. drywall. Strontium is a metal often used in manufacturing the glass for television screens.

The EPA also detected two elements typically found in acrylic paints in the Chinese drywall but not in the U.S. drywall.

The EPA said these results are not intended to establish a definitive link between the drywall and the conditions being found by homeowners in their homes.

The CPSC says representatives from the Chinese government are in the U.S. working on the issue.

Pointing to the blackened copper on their home's corroded air conditioning unit as all the evidence they need, the Rojhanis say they aren't going to wait for the government studies. They say the air in the home they share with their son, Seth, 18, who is paraplegic with a history of cancer, is giving them headaches and causing sinus infections. Sherri says she's been coughing since February.

"What we are doing is discontinuing our mortgage, and saving our money for moving expenses, and for a rental property," Sherri Rojhani told CNN.

They stopped paying their mortgage in April. Their attorney contacted their mortgage company, Countrywide, recently bought by Bank of America, almost a month ago with details of their plight.

A letter to the Rojhanis from Bank of America's counseling center said the bank intends to move forward with the foreclosure process.

That doesn't make sense to Sherri Rojhani.

"It's worth zero. They cannot sell it. They face the same issue we do for a potential buyer," she said.

Countrywide / Bank of America did not respond to CNN's request for comment.

Indeed, banks and mortgage companies across the country may soon find themselves in the same position if homeowners walk away and allow their homes to be foreclosed.

"They're having to make choices about their credit and whether they are going to lose their home, but they're always going to pick their health first," said Michael Ryan, the Rojhanis' attorney.

According to the Gypsum Association, a trade group that represents drywall manufactures, enough drywall was imported from China during the housing boom from 2005 to 2007 to build 30,000 complete homes. But it's possible that some of the Chinese drywall was used in smaller remodeling projects across the country. So, the number of homes affected is difficult to calculate.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government has made clear that not all Chinese drywall is bad.

Rather than foreclosing, the Rojhanis suggest the banks team with homeowners against those who supplied the drywall.

"It's in their best interests to join us in going after ... the distributors and the manufactures to get remediation," she said.

The Rojhanis are now suing their home builder.

Joseph Espinal lives in the same Parkland, Florida, area as the Rojhanis, but his lender, HSBC, has given him and his family a three-month grace period in paying their mortgage.

In an e-mailed statement, an HSBC spokeswoman, Kate Durham, told CNN: "HSBC does not comment on individual customer matters but we can tell you that our home preservation team members regularly work with customers facing various hardships, to offer assistance."

But what happens after that three-month payment hiatus ends is anybody's guess.

"It's a great start," Joseph Espinal told CNN. "But I don't see anybody coming up to the plate and saying, Mr. Espinal, I know we screwed you by building a house with toxic chemicals, here's a temporary home, while we repair what went wrong."

He's moving his wife and two young daughters into a rental this month, after what he describes as almost two years of sickness and visits to doctors.

"We have sinus headaches which lead to antibiotics, and then three weeks, four weeks later, I'm back asking for more," he said.

Espinal made a 40 percent down payment on his home. He's concerned and angry about what's happened to his investment.

"I don't want to lose my money," he said.

CPSC says Florida leads the nation in complaints about Chinese drywall. Other complaints from homeowners are coming from Louisiana, Virginia, Wisconsin, Ohio, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, California, Washington, Wyoming, Arizona, Tennessee and Washington D.C.

Many homeowner's have turned to their home insurance companies for help, only to find that any problems would not be covered by homeowner's policies.

"If it's defective, where they have to be recompensated, that would have to come from the manufacturer," said Loretta Worters of the Insurance Information Institute, an insurance industry trade group.

Last week, Florida Reps. Robert Wexler, a Democrat, and Mario Diaz-Balart, a Republican, were successful in passing legislation that required the secretary of housing to examine the effect of Chinese drywall on mortgage foreclosures and to study the availability of property insurance coverage for these homes.

"It is critical that we address this problem swiftly to avoid devastating results in our communities and long-term effects on the health and well being of our families," Diaz-Balart said in a written statement.

Meanwhile, Florida's attorney general has warned consumers to be aware of fraudulent companies selling bogus test kits and quick fixes, costing thousands of dollars.

There are no quick fixes according to state and federal experts.

Sherri Rojhani says she won't be taking any chances.

"If the fumes are strong enough to corrode metal, and copper pipe is turning black, I don't need a degree from the EPA to determine if my lung tissue is at risk."

Update Story - CNN

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Parkland home tested for drywall emissions

The state Health Department took air samples from a Parkland home with Chinese drywall to determine if it hurt the owners' health. Getting an answer may take months.

At the table where the Field family once gathered for dinner, dishes were replaced by a quart bags and pencil-thin vacuum tubes as the Florida Department of Health gathered air samples at the Parkland home.

Built in 2006, the Fields' 4,200-square-foot home is one of many newer South Florida houses lined in Chinese drywall. This week's test aims to determine whether health problems blamed on the building material are truly linked to it.

At issue are sulfur compounds emitted by the imported drywall that corrode air conditioning coils, copper wiring and blacken metals in homes and purportedly cause nosebleeds, chronic headaches and sleeping problems for occupants. The Florida Department of Health had received reports of concern about drywall from 434 homeowners as of Tuesday.

Although previous tests by state and federal authorities found that drywall manufactured in China emits three sulfur compounds, no scientific study has connected it to health problems. Testing the Field house and a control house -- which does not have Chinese drywall -- will cost $40,000 to $50,000.

''There's not enough for us to say there's not a link to health problems, but there's no smoking gun,'' said Dr. David Krause, a toxicologist with the state Department of Health. Not all homes made with imported drywall are affecting homeowners' health.

Krause said it could be several months before the department has definitive results. Although waiting that long may prove maddening to politicians and suffering homeowners, Krause said the testing takes time.

''As we review the data, if there's an obvious or apparent chemical that raises alarm, we would communicate that to the public post haste,'' he said.

The testing procedure used at the Fields' home is similar to tests for mold and formaldehyde, said René Salazar, a certified industrial hygienist from Tampa who collected many of the samples.

The air samples were sent to a private laboratory in Lakeland for analysis, along with those from the control house -- a home in the same neighborhood built at about the same time but with a different kind of drywall. The state will use the samples to establish a testing protocol that can be widely used.

The Environmental Protection Agency is conducting its own air tests at three homes on the west coast of Florida and three in Louisiana.

But applying the findings to thousands of homes with Chinese drywall may be difficult, said Krause. ''Each home is unique,'' he said. ``Each person's own health is unique.''

For the Field family, the results can't come too soon. In April, the couple, their three young children and two dogs moved in with Leslie Field's parents in Delray Beach. But it's a tight fit at the two-bedroom home that usually holds two. Renting another place isn't an option: The family is still paying their mortgage and homeowners' association fees at their spacious home in the Parkland Golf & Country Club.

The Fields have sued the home builder, WCI Communities, which has filed for bankruptcy. Other builders have offered to gut and rebuild homes, but lawsuits against builders, drywall suppliers, distributors and installers are swirling in state and federal court.

''I feel dizzy just being in the house again,'' Ted Field said. ``I just didn't feel right when I went to sleep. I didn't feel right when I woke up.''

Now that the family has moved out, he said, ``We all feel much better.''

Update Story - Miami Herald

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