Chinese drywall in your SW FL home............. (Fort Myers, Naples: sale, apartment)

[Compression]

As reported on local news NBC-2, Fort Myers, FL.
A new health alert from the shores of China. Much of the drywall used inside the construction boom era homes in SW FL have toxic Chinese made drywall installed. The gas emitted from the drywall corrodes the copper coils in the air conditioners of the affected homes, and may pose a possible health risk to the people living in them.
If your home was built 2002-2006 go to your attic, and look at the back of the drywall on the ceiling. If the name KNAUF appears, it is the Chinese stuff.

DOH! another commie plot.......

[Big House]

Originally Posted by yachtcare

As reported on local news NBC-2, Fort Myers, FL.
A new health alert from the shores of China. Much of the drywall used inside the construction boom era homes in SW FL have toxic Chinese made drywall installed. The gas emitted from the drywall corrodes the copper coils in the air conditioners of the affected homes, and may pose a possible health risk to the people living in them.
If your home was built 2002-2006 go to your attic, and look at the back of the drywall on the ceiling. If the name KNAUF appears, it is the Chinese stuff.

DOH! another commie plot.......

One of our clients wanted us to use that for one of the projects we were going to build for them. We informed him that we would not do it for a number of potential liability issues, including the fact that the chinese drywall has never been tested for U.L. fire ratings, which potentially has life safety issues in the unfortunate event of a fire. Fires are common in apartment communities which we build, and once we discussed the other liability issues as well, they elected not to use the material. The chinese are also importing tons of light fixtures which also have to have U.L. ratings, but don't. Some of the chinese imports though seem worthy of consideration though.

[FLBob]

While the quality standards for manufacturing in this country may not be perfect, they are much better than else where.
The cost of producing goods is higher here but maybe it's worth the price. As my neighbor in Naples said; "buy the best cry once".

[Compression]

Originally Posted by Big House

Fires are common in apartment communities which we build

Ummmmm, O.K.? (j.k., I know what you mean, I think)

Originally Posted by Big House

Some of the chinese imports though seem worthy of consideration though.

Yes, in fairness, it seems the Chinese make many different levels of "quality". Much is junk and some is actually stuff that meets or exceeds standards as set by the country to which it is to be exported too. In this case, it seems the actual importer is an outfit from the UK. I remember that in those years there were shortages of alot of building materials, as the construction boom, and the recovery from several large hurricanes was ongoing at the time. So alot of this was likely overlooked in the interest of expediting contracts and repairs.
They made mention that this may require the need to remove, and replace all of this drywall in the effected homes, if a remedy treatment cannot be found, The question is, who gets the pleasure of paying for the remedy or replacing? Seems this could be the nail in the coffin for those builders that are still holding on, if they have to deal with it as a warranty issue.

[Big House]

Originally Posted by yachtcare

Ummmmm, O.K.? (j.k., I know what you mean, I think)


Yes, in fairness, it seems the Chinese make many different levels of "quality". Much is junk and some is actually stuff that meets or exceeds standards as set by the country to which it is to be exported too. In this case, it seems the actual importer is an outfit from the UK. I remember that in those years there were shortages of alot of building materials, as the construction boom, and the recovery from several large hurricanes was ongoing at the time. So alot of this was likely overlooked in the interest of expediting contracts and repairs.
They made mention that this may require the need to remove, and replace all of this drywall in the effected homes, if a remedy treatment cannot be found, The question is, who gets the pleasure of paying for the remedy or replacing? Seems this could be the nail in the coffin for those builders that are still holding on, if they have to deal with it as a warranty issue.

Good pick up on the fire quote. What I meant to say was that we (our company) builds apartment projects. And, fires are common in apartment communities, not just the ones we build, but fairly common in general. A lot of work is incorporated to make sure that they are safe places to live, and fire ratings are one of the aspects that we spend a great deal of time and expense to make sure that they are built corectly with safety in mind. We carefully examine every component, its application, its ratings, its installation instructions, and often require the manufacturer to inspect the project and the application of its products in order to ensure that the installation is complete in accordance with their recommendations and instructions in order to not only ensure safety, but in order to ensure that their warrantees are valid when we are done. That is on top of having the jurisdictional inspections, owner inspections, architect inspections, safety inspections and third party inspections. We also pay for and require all of our major subcontractors provide performance and payment bonds so that if they are found negligent in utilizing required practices their performance is insured. In addition to, but not limited to all these inspections we provide highly experienced project managers and superintendents that have detailed quality control inspections for follow for virtually every trade. I'm not selling anything, or looking for anything by noting all this. I am just stating that quality and safety are important to us, and using chinese drywall was deemed by us to be inferior, and as a fire barrier a potential safety issue. And as you noted we could not warrent the quality of the material used either. I could see how others could use it though and because it was significantly cheaper.

[2peaches2oranges]

I thought I heard them say November 2005, not 2002?? Supposedly it is Lennar and other builders?

[tallrick]

This is why I always build my own home. No wood, no drywall and no problem. I doubt they can contaminate the concrete and steel I use unless they put depleted uranium in it.

[dancoulter]

Hi, I don't know if anyone's still talking about this, but does anyone know who is actually responsible for bringing this drywall into the US? Knauf doesn't have a distribution network in the US (they only sell insulation here apparently), so some other wholesaler(s) must have been purchasing it directly from the Knauf plant in China. Any thoughts on who it might be?

[HomeStager]

I don't know who the wholesalers/local distributors are. I learned that 5 different manufacturers out of China have sent their toxic waste hidden in drywall here. I learned that that at least 2 U.S. Manufacturers ordered blank stock from one of them in China and slapped their name on it.

How China's toxic waste disguised as drywall got into this country is beyond me.

The governments and politicians really need to get seriously involved and sort this mess out, ban the stuff from importation and sale here, as well as recall the homes that have it.

What will it be next from China?

Please buy "made anywhere else but China"

[Compression]

Originally Posted by HomeStager

How China's toxic waste disguised as drywall got into this country is beyond me.

Only conjecture on my part, but one has to keep in mind what was going on at the time....A major building boom going on all over the country, at the same time, alot of recovery from major hurricanes that had pummelled the area in '04 and again in '05.

I recall friends, that were in the building trades, talking about the delays caused by shortages, and difficulties in getting materials at the time. Expediency was the order of the day, and when a stash of drywall became available, where ever it happened to come from, it was likely snapped up with no questions asked.

Another cautionary tale for the ages.....