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KNAUF/Germany is now at the center of several law suits.
"The media is putting a China-bashing slant on this piece of news. While it’s true that China has a tendency to produce inferior or toxic products, the Knauf drywall case illustrates a much bigger issue. A western (German) manufacturer has toxic drywall made in China, but avoids taking responsibility for the quality of the product. Money-hungry American builders buy the stuff in bulk and create instant suburbs, but don’t claim responsibility for QAing the materials they buy. Home-hungry Americans flock into reasonably-priced homes without a second thought regarding the safety and integrity of the structures.
This isn’t a China issue, it’s an everyone issue. This is what happens when manufacturers and builders rush their processes in order to squeeze out maximal profits. Once again, we’re paying retroactively for a communal lack of foresight." http://www.businesspundit.com/knauf-...in-us-history/
The same lawyer says:
"''Give them a lifetime -- not one-year -- warranty,'' Miami attorney Jeremy Alters said. He has filed suits in state and federal court against almost a dozen builders, along with drywall manufacturers. ``If they sell the house, people have the peace of mind of knowing there's nothing wrong. Otherwise no one's going to buy that house.''"
"Between 2004-2008 Knauf dry walls were used in 18 states but the problem with them most prevalent in Florida.
100 000 homes have these Chinese made dry walls. Total repair cost will be $1 Trillion.
Cost of building a new home is $75 per square foot. Redoing a new home is could easily cost $125000.
Some families don't even want to return to their homes, even if they are repaired."
KNAUF/Germany is now at the center of several law suits.
"The media is putting a China-bashing slant on this piece of news. While it’s true that China has a tendency to produce inferior or toxic products, the Knauf drywall case illustrates a much bigger issue. A western (German) manufacturer has toxic drywall made in China, but avoids taking responsibility for the quality of the product. Money-hungry American builders buy the stuff in bulk and create instant suburbs, but don’t claim responsibility for QAing the materials they buy. Home-hungry Americans flock into reasonably-priced homes without a second thought regarding the safety and integrity of the structures.
This isn’t a China issue, it’s an everyone issue. This is what happens when manufacturers and builders rush their processes in order to squeeze out maximal profits. Once again, we’re paying retroactively for a communal lack of foresight." http://www.businesspundit.com/knauf-...in-us-history/
Your research and your time in writing about Chinese dry walls has saved and will save many people from misery. Thank you.
I have read in several publications that even the foundation of the house with Chinese dry walls is contaminated.
When a neighbor's house is identified as being contaminated or/and is being repaired, what happens to surrounding neighbors? I doubt it that everything will be neatly covered to avoid exposure.
And what about workers who get exposed to these chemicals without being told what they are dealing with?
As you have probably noticed, related to Cape Coral, statistics are "best kept secret" of Cape Coral!
Why do not we have local T.V. stations and newspapers inviting specialists to come and talk about what one should do and not do. I do not mean just about legal and health issues but also about measures to protect others not to get exposed to these chemicals "accidently".
You have done a great research on this horrific matter, but did you wipe out your shoes or covered your mouth/nose/hair or washed your hands right away?
These simple measures do not cost anything but can make a big difference.
How can one protect other residents, especially elderly, children and pregnant women who do not lived in contaminated houses?
When such houses are re-built, where are infected Chinese dry walls pilled up and where are they taken too? How will pilled up dry walls affect the ground water?
Every day, in this forum, I see how some individuals day and night sit down and fabricate complete lies to lure readers to "buy" first and then worry about other things, i.e. Chinese dry walls. They are not "federal agents".
We are not only victims but also the cause of problem.
HomeStage, thank you for being a good human.
Sam, Thank you for your posts. They are interesting and informative.
I found an answer to your question while reading about condition of construction/ landfill/port/remodeling workers who were working with Chinese dry walls and were constantly complaining. I am glad to know that lawyers are taking notes of their suffering too. But of course construction workers without "paper" are too afraid to show up and have no insurance.
To ignore this, we are just like Knauf Co. who did not care about others..just money, ice cold.
Back to your question about disposal of chinese dry walls:
"The disposal of tainted Chinese drywall could produce excessive stinky gas and contaminate the water around landfills unless it is disposed of apporpriately, according to Florida Dept. of Env. Protect.
DEP recommends that drywall be dumped only in class 1 landfills, which are lined and typically have gas recovery systems."
Yoko, thanks a lot!
I am still trying to find out whether we have Class 1 landfills in Cape Coral or not.
Cape Coral IS a first class landfill
But seriously, there are no landfills "IN" Cape Coral. There is one landfill that services all of lee county, and it is operated by Waste Management of Florida, Inc.
Known as "Gulf Coast Landfill" it has had it's own share of controversy over the years. However it IS considered a "class I" landfill.
I want to read about the effect of Chinese dry walls on foundation of homes.
I am not aware of any testing done on the foundation. There should have been some done on a gutted home by a government agency and released already. I don't think they are going to bother doing any independent tests on the foundation, block or wood.
I do know this. I was just in a place being remediated, that had been gutted down to block and studs and had been airing out for about 2 months. During that time, the owners said it was okay for the builder to at least put the electrical, plumbing and HVAC ventilation system back in. cough* stupid* cough.
New insulation and drywall went up in the last week. The place still reeked of sulfur badly with all of the block, plywood, studs, and roof trusses now covered. The only thing left exposed to reek of sulfur would have been the concrete foundation floor. Take that for what it is worth.
More disturbing to me was that in the weeks the brand new copper wiring was in that place, it had already started turning black again from the cross contamination. How is anyone going to sell these "remediated homes" if the copper wires, most everyone knows to look for now in Florida, turn black again that quickly????
There is a chance tile throughout would probably keep the contamination in the foundation contained. I don't know. I suspect it is bad enough in the foundation to come back up through carpet and padding.
I learned from the Home site that at the Orlando litigation meeting on CDW, held June 4th, it was revealed that chip board from a gutted home was put into a jar with a copper pipe and that the copper started turning black in just 29 days.
In a televised report of the litigation conference in New Orleans, some attendees said that reports are already coming in from fully remediated homes that the smell is coming back through the new drywall again. They also reported that hard wood floors were also cross contaminated. Carpet and padding definetely is. The video report is on the top right of this page. Hit play.
This all helps to confirm and support what I have been trying to warn people about as of late, and that is that the only remediation to fully rid the homes of the problem is a bulldozer. I think the sooner people realize and face that, the less people there will be throwing good money after bad, and risking a delayed repeat of the nightmare when they move back in.
On a side note- If spiderman in that video was refering to remediating the studs and block with either hepa vacuuming or some spray, ( he didn't even say what protocal because he is talkng out of his butt when it comes to remediation) I can tell you that hepa vaccuming does not work and I am not aware of any spray that has worked. I'd be the first to tell everyone if treatment was developed and proven. I got to smell homes with two different sprays tried and niether worked to neutralize the dozens of chemical gases coming out of the cross contaminated materials.
I am looking forward to hearing how the house in CC that was tented and filled with Chlorine Dioxide gas will be claimed to have worked.
That spiderman guy from Gainsville was putting up internet ads everywhere saying he had a patented ventilation system that worked so well, you didn't even have to remove the drywall. I wonder how many desparate people paid him for it, before it was realized to be a dud/scam and he pulled all of his ads. Now on his site, he has it in small print that he has a protocal that will help stabalize the situation until a more permanent solution can be performed. I hope no one was charged for it while under the false advertisement that it worked to solve the problem so well, the home could be certified for resale.
Please everyone be careful of scams out there. Ask to see before and after test results, where a canister was used, and the tests included gasses from heavy metals and radioactivity, along with the sulfur compounds.
And remember that OSHA levels apply to set exposure limits in the work place with tests done on healthy adult males. Those limit levels do not apply to domestic exposure for the general public and pets, and they do not take into account immune system weakening from chronic ( more then 1 year) exposure, nor the synergystic effect to being chronically exposed to the host of toxic gases involved all at the same time.
At least where babies and children are involved, I am hoping and praying that people who find themselves in this american dream turned into american nightmare, error on the side of their childrens health before material things, money, and credit score.
Sue who you can for what you can if your up for it, get out and don't go back. Ask all of your lame law firms why they are not collecting evidence deep enough to be filing suit to have your toxic to the core contaminated worthless homes bought back. None of them have any proof that any remediation will work for the long term. Evidence is coming out now saying, it doesn't and that the contamination in materials left behind is coming back through the new drywall and turning copper black again.
I know that Florida has a right to repair law. Fine. How many of your attorneys have it worked into the suits that if the proposed remediation fails and the problems come back, that the builder then has to buy the house back?
I say all of this because I want to see a final end to stories like this about children going deaf and coughing up blood, and getting emphasema, siezures and asthma, living in these homes, from happening.
This guys dog went deaf in his toxic chinese house too. Arsenic gas can do that and arsenic gas is coming out of these homes. Coincidence or not, who wants to take the chance with their children?
Why the government is not out there identifying every last one of them and taking a bulldozer to them, to make sure no one lives in one of these places again is beyond me. It's up to the consumers to get informed and take care of themselves. I think the government does need to step in because they are the ones that accepted Chinas Toxic waste to come into our country and be disposed of in our tax payers homes, and filtered through their livers.
Check out the soot coming off on peoples fingers. What if their lungs look like that?
That www.chinesedrywall site also says one of the builders started actively investigating the drywall with an air quality company back in Nov. of 2006, yet they continued selling homes to people without disclosing they suspected a problem with the drywall in their homes. If any of you out there were sold a home by this builder, and beleived their story that they didn't start investigating it until early 2008, you may want to make sure that your attorneys dig deeper with their discovery process.
In Florida State law, if you can prove the seller knew of something that should have been disclosed and wasn't, you can sue to have the home bought back. Why mess with remediations that are now showing up to not work.
Homestager's post above inspired an idea. I'll make it public here, as someone with more wherewithall than I may be able to follow up on it as a possible cure.
In the past, I have used epoxy "encapsulation" as a remedy for rotten wood in some repairs on boats. As wood is porous, as is concrete, and many other materials you wouldnt think of being porous, a mixture of epoxy, thinned with xylene, to the consistency of lighter fluid will soak deep into the surface. On wood(for example) it will harden to an airtight, waterproof, rock hard mass in hours. It would still require gutting of the interior to bare studs and slab, but it is a method that may(I think likely would) be successful in trapping the toxic gasses.
Dont know how cost effective it would be, epoxy tends to be a bit expensive. And the stigma of a home with "remediation" is still gonna be a hard sell, IF it is disclosed.........
That brings up another question.....I wonder how many commercial properties are effected by CDW?
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