Chinese Drywall in Lennar Homes Community

Miami, FL"My lawyer came to our home yesterday and all my neighbors--180 of them--gathered around to find out what we can do about this Chinese drywall disaster," says Rafael. " We live in a big Lennar Homes community of about 500 houses and we are upset and concerned. We want to move out but I certainly can't sell our once 'dream home' now. Who will buy it with this toxic Chinese drywall? It is so frustrating."

One of the largest home builders in the US, Lennar Homes recently admitted to building homes with imported Chinese drywall between November 2005 and November 2006. An environmental firm contracted by Lennar conducted air sampling in homes they built which confirmed the presence of sulfur. So far, Lennar is admitting to at least 80 homes having been built with the sulfurous drywall in Southwest Florida.

The home builder will likely have many more toxic homes to deal with: Rafael has been doing a lot of research and talking to a lot of people; he says that from 2005 to 2007 Lennar has built about 40,000 to 50,000 homes that will be affected by this Chinese drywall.

"We got a letter from the construction company that built our home (they finished the construction in August 2005 and we moved in a month later), wanting to make sure that our house had the right kind of drywall and not Chinese drywall," says Rafael. "They instructed us to look for signs like my jewelry getting tarnished, my plumbing under the kitchen and bathroom sinks and coils in the air conditioner to see if they were becoming black. I took a look and to my shock, they were indeed black, with black dust sticking to the a/c coil.

I called them back and said I was very suspicious that we might have the Chinese drywall. My air conditioner had already broken down because the metal had corroded. I bought a brand new plasma TV and within 8 months it broke down…

They came over for a pre-inspection and confirmed that the copper plumbing and the a/c were black. They went upstairs in the attic, removed the insulation and found different stamps on different drywalls saying, 'Made in China'.

Right away they called an inspector and scheduled him to come over and sample the air in different parts of my house—I'm waiting for the results.

And there are health issues: My daughter has had a cough continually for two years and my 15-month-old son has cold-like symptoms all the time, for no reason. We are so prudent with cleaning but their symptoms never stop. As well, my wife and I have continual headaches—neither of us have had headaches like this, ever. Looking back, these health issues all started when we moved into this house.

After talking to my lawyer, I am wondering if we should just move out. He told me that I should move out because right now they have no idea of the extent of damage; we just don't know how bad it is. My lawyer is sending his people over to do testing because we don't trust the results of Lennar's inspector.

I am absolutely furious and more than that, concerned about my family's health. This was our dream house and I don't know how much longer we can live here. And how can we afford the move? Do we get a hotel room, an apartment? We don't know what to do. Right now it is just a waiting game until the test results come back. But at the same time, I don't want to risk my family's health.

Our neighbors are also concerned and really upset. Everyone around here is pretty much confused. My lawyer is planning on suing Lennar, either with a class action or individual lawsuits."

The Chinese drywall has been linked to Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co. Ltd. of China. Knauf claims its product is safe and that the sulfur smell of rotten eggs is due to a naturally occurring mineral used to make drywall. Building experts say the suspected toxic drywall was imported as early as 2004 as a result of a drywall shortage which occurred after hurricanes Wilma and Katrina depleted domestic drywall supplies. If your home was built after 2004 and you suspect it was built with Chinese drywall, you may want to seek legal help.