Posts Tagged ‘ defective drywall ’

Bought Drywall at Lowe’s? There’s a Settlement…

August 11th, 2010. By

A rather big announcement this week for people who purchased sulfur contaminated drywall from Lowes, the do-it-yourself (DIY) home building supplies retailer. They have agreed to pay the equivalent of $6.5 million in gift cards, to end a class action lawsuit that claimed they sold defective drywall. 

So if you bought defective drywall—i.e. sulfur laden drywall—Chinese drywall—you know the stuff—at Lowes, you could be eligible for a gift card. FYI—there doesn’t appear to be any information on how much the gift cards will be for. 

The settlement agreement, interestingly, didn’t specify where Lowe’s obtained their defective drywall, but in a report by the Wall Street Journal, a company spokesperson is quoted as follows “Lowe’s has been assured by vendors who provided stock drywall for sales in our stores that drywall they provided was not imported from China. But the settlement includes claims of all types of allegedly defective drywall people claim to have purchased from Lowe’s.” 

I don’t know if it’s just me but $6.5 million seems a rather paltry amount, considering the damage inflicted on tens of thousands of unsuspecting homeowners. Although it is larger than the settlement awarded in the first Chinese drywall trial brought by Lisa and Armin Seifart. More on that in a minute. 

According to the Homeowners Consumer Center in Washington, D.C, Chinese drywall has Read the rest of this entry »

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Chinese Drywall on the move

July 10th, 2009. By

drywallmapjuly62009Until recently, reported incidents of defective Chinese drywall seemed fairly contained to the southeast—particularly Florida. The Chinese drywall situation may prove to be larger than anyone expected as we watch the “creep” effect on a map of the US, compliments of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The map (above) shows the now 18 states, plus the District of Columbia, that have reported incidents of defective drywall. And, as we blogged recently in Chinese Drywall by the Numbers, incident reports have begun to show up beyond our borders as well…



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Saints’ Coach can run from Chinese Drywall, can you?

July 6th, 2009. By

seanpaytonOk, now we’re getting to some of the harsh realities about the toxic Chinese drywall situation. The AP reported back on June 18th that New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton’s home is one of the many affected by defective drywall—and in the meantime, he’s moved out. He’s apparently renting someplace. But see, that takes money, right? And I bet no one’s telling the Payton’s they can just let their mortgage payments (assuming they have them) lapse while they fork over money to rent someplace else. But can the thousands of other homeowners whose lives have been affected by defective Chinese drywall do that? Pretty doubtful.

And Payton clearly understand this: the AP article states Payton “says he feels sorry for residents in Louisiana who have the same problem but can’t afford to make such a move.”

Chances are, given what is now reported on US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)website regarding the potential health effects of the defective drywall, anyone who has any of these symptoms would most likely want to leave home: Read the rest of this entry »

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Chinese Drywall: when to get a Lawyer

June 11th, 2009. By

Since the Chinese Drywall debacle became big news, a ton of websites have popped up offering “what to look for” tips on how to detect whether you have a problem. While you may find evidence of a potential problem by noticing an unnatural blackening on coins or jewelry in your home, or by failure of appliances that use copper wiring, the Florida State Department of Health outlines what signs to look for that’ll ensure you get the help you need: legal help—as most homeowner’s insurance policies won’t give you a dime of help.

If you’re like many people, you may be a bit hesitant to contact a lawyer—but the guidelines below will help you understand when it’s in your best interest (and your home’s) to do so.

According to current case definition (3/30/09), you must meet certain requirements in order to meet the case definition—and it depends on when your home was built: 

Homes built after January 1, 2004 must show at least 2 of the 5 following signs.

Homes built before January 1, 2004 must show at least 3 of the 5 following signs.

1. Sulfur-like or rotten egg smell.

2. Drywall in your home with any of these visible markings…

      Made in China

      Knauf – Tianjin

      China-ASTM C36 06-05-03, 10.14

      Made in China ASTM C36/C1396 Standard

      Knauf – Tianjin China ASTM C36

      National Gypsum

      GridMarX

3. Evidence of black, sooty coating on copper freon pipes connecting to air handling unit

4. Evidence of air conditioner evaporator coil failure

5. Determination by an expert of the presence of premature copper corrosion on uninsulated copper wires or air conditioner evaporator coils

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Chinese Drywall by the Numbers

June 5th, 2009. By

137,000,000,000 square feet: total US drywall use, 2004-2007 (WSJ online, 4/17/09)

550,000,000 pounds of drywall imported to US since 2006—enough to build 60,000 homes(heraldtribune.com, 2/18/09)

309,000,000 square feet: amount of drywall imported from China, 2004-2007—enough to build 35,000 homes (WSJ online, 4/17/009)

100,000 minimum number of homes estimated to be affected by Chinese drywall (msn.com, 6/5/09)

75,000 estimate of how many potential Chinese drywall cases could develop nationwide by Coral Gables lawyer Ervin Gonzalez (news-press.com, 5/11/09)

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