Chinese Drywall Facts & Fiction

I’m sure many of you have been reading the papers, listening to your favorite news station or possibly been contacted by a company claiming  they are experts in testing Chinese drywall.  All the hype may have left you wondering, does my house contain Chinese drywall?

I hope to dispel some of the false information and provide you with the facts about defective Chinese drywall.

Facts:

It does exist.  Homes that were built between 2004-2008 may contain Chinese drywall. Several hurricanes and the building boom created a shortage in supply of dry wall for builders.  To stay on schedule many builders had to order drywall from outside the U.S.  Lennar Homes, the nation’s second largest builder by volume, has acknowledged the problem and is promising to absorb all costs related to the drywall replacement. Lennar also maintains that the Chinese drywall was installed by independent contractors, and claimed that it did not know the material was imported from China.  The builder said it intends to “to take all necessary actions” to hold manufacturers or suppliers of the defective drywall responsible. Of course, Lennar is not the only builder in South Florida that may have used defective Chinese drywall.

Since ”Made In China” may not be visible — and not all drywall is marked — the Florida Department of Health has established some basic criteria for determining whether a home contains it.

Homes constructed from 2004 to the present must meet two or more of the following conditions; those built prior to 2004 must meet three or more:

Conditions

• There is presence of a sulfur-like smell similar to “rotten eggs” or other unusual odors;

• Confirmed presence of Chinese-manufactured drywall in the home;

• Observed copper corrosion, indicated by black, sooty coating of uninsulated copper pipe leading to the air handling unit;

• Documented failure of air conditioner evaporator coil (located inside the air handling unit);

• Confirmation by an outside expert for the presence of premature copper corrosion on uninsulated copper wires and/or air conditioner evaporator coils.

• Health hazard.  At this time, the DOH has not associated any imminent or chronic health hazard related to Chinese drywall however, they are continuing to review all available data to help determine a more definitive answer.

For more information from the Department of Health click here.

Since the drywall issue surfaced many false remedies are being offered.  Florida’s attorney general sent out an alert, warning homeowners to be aware of scams.

False

Company offers to conduct tests and remove the corrosive properties from the drywall costing the homeowner many thousand of dollars.  The DOH reported that at this time, there is no known test that can detect the presence of defective drywall by testing the air in the home.

Offering to fix the defective drywall with a spray or an ozone generator. These products may actually make the problem worse.

What should you do?

If you suspect that defective drywall maybe present in your home, ask the home  builder or a qualified air conditioner technician to conduct a visual inspection.

Filing a Complaint

If you fell victim to one of these scams and/or wish to file a complaint.  Call the attorney general’s fraud hotline at (866) 966-7226 or file a complaint online.  To file a complaint online click here.

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