Home 'Stink' Home with Defective Chinese Drywall

Parkland, FLMonths after toxic Chinese drywall began making people sick and chasing them from their homes, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has gotten into the act and has actively tested two homes containing defective Chinese drywall for Chinese drywall damage.

The EPA found sulfur, together with two compounds associated with acrylic paint. The same chemicals were not found at all in four samples of American-made product. The EPA also found that strontium levels were higher in the product from China, than similar domestic product.

It is the strontium, together with the sulfur that is thought to be responsible for the rotten-egg smell that many homeowners have complained emits from the defective Chinese drywall. Officials don't know yet if the problem is with material that is contained inside the wallboard or sprayed onto it.

What is known, according to an exhaustive analysis by the Associated Press (AP), is that shipping records indicate as much as 500 million pounds of Chinese drywall was brought into the US and used in houses over a four-year period from 2002 to 2006, when the housing boom was at its peak. According to AP the defective product may have been used in as many as 100,000 homes—including homes built after the devastating Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The most cutting irony is that many of those houses newly re-built may have to be completely renovated, or torn down entirely. That's because it is not known what effect the chemicals leeching out of the defective Chinese drywall would have on the structural integrity of a home over the long term.

In the short term, the drywall is literally chasing people from their homes. Mary Ann Schultheis is one Florida homeowner who has suffered burning eyes, sinus headaches and an overall heaviness in her chest ever since the day she first moved into her new home in Parkland, Florida a few years ago.

Not only does the drywall stink, but also the fumes have been known to corrode copper pipes, damage condenser coils in refrigerators and air conditioners, and blacken jewelry and silverware.

Some homeowners have moved out. Many have sued. In Schultheis' case her builder has reportedly gone bankrupt, there is no help forthcoming from government and her lender is unsympathetic.

"I'm just going to cry," she is reported to have said. "We don't know what we are going to do."

Her words are echoed by many.

The EPA report was released by Senators Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Bill Nelson (D-FLA). The two are lobbying for $2 million in federal funding to allow the Consumer Protection Safety Commission (CPSC) together with other federal agencies to more thoroughly research the extent of the problem.

Ultimately, Senator Nelson from Florida thinks there is only one solution that's viable. "In the end, I think all this stuff is going to have to be ripped out," he said.

Most builders use drywall that originates in the United States. However, the building boom in the early-to-middle part of the decade created a shortage of material. Builders faced having their projects stalled and the possibility of delayed closings if they couldn't get their hands on alternative product.

China appeared on the horizon as a rescuer. The defective Chinese drywall was not only plentiful, it was also cheaper. One homeowner admitted to AP that he had saved about $1,000 by putting up his home with Chinese drywall, rather than domestic material.

At the peak, in 2006 enough Chinese drywall was imported from China to build about 34,000 homes of approximately 2,000 square feet each, according to estimates. That was in 2006 alone. Florida and Louisiana appear to be the hardest-hit, but problems have also surfaced in Mississippi, California, Virginia and Alabama.

In Florida alone, upwards of 35,000 homes are said to be affected—and built with either Chinese drywall exclusively, or a mixture of offshore and domestic product.

Worst of all for homeowners in Florida, the problem is said to be exacerbated by heat and humidity.

China, despite its status as a newfound and burgeoning international exporter, has been sullied in the last few years with a trainload of tainted and defective products. However the use for Chinese drywall may have predated much of the media frenzy that accompanied defective Chinese products, including defective Chinese drywall. However, as the lawsuits fly—homeowners suing contractors and contractors suing suppliers—there is little relief for the homeowner made to suffer from Chinese drywall damage beyond picking up the phone, calling a qualified attorney and ultimately joining the fray.