Chinese Drywall (Sarasota, Venice, Punta Gorda: condos, attorneys, buying a home)

[PaulieM]

Originally Posted by Big House

I am a builder, so I can tell you that it is not a builder isolated thing. Builders large and small hire subcontractors to furnish and install the drywall in the projects they build. Generally, but not 100% universally, this is true. Builders generally to not self perform the drywall work, they subcontract for it. And each project is different and the timing and phasing is different. For Sale homes are built in groups and sequenced and phased at a intervals that the developer/builder feels he can sell them. For cash flow reasons, you are not going to build out 500 homes if you are selling them at a rate of 20 per month. You would be carrying the debt service on a huge amount of money for a long time. So they are sequenced in phases that will sell efficiently. And so often Subcontractors are hired on a per phase basis, or sometimes for multiple phase, by different contractors that may be building in a subdivision. The Project Managers that build each of the phases may vary, as will the subcontractor and the subcontractor's supplier. Lannar may be the lead developer and hired multiple General Contractors to build houses in that development using thier protypical designs. So just because Lannar may have built a development, it doesnt mean that all the homes in that development have chinese drywall, only one house might, or several houses, or a phase or several phases. The same subcontractor that worked for Taylor Morrison could have worked for Lannar, or "Joe Smith Builders". In the same way, you can't pin it down to just one subcontractor either. Each job, building, and phase, gets priced out and bought based on when it needs to be stocked, and who is the cheapest supplier that can readily deliver the product when it is needed. When the Chinese drywall hit the marketplace it was substantially cheaper than US made products, and it was more available once it arrived here. There was a huge demand for drywall at the time, so there was pressure not just on price but on time, and a lot of builders (not all, but a lot) throughout Florida (where it was readily available) grabbed it. I don't think you can say this builder is a bad builder because one of his projects had some Chinese drywall on it. It really is a building by building basis, and you need to be careful to inspect for it. Especially on foreclosed homes, because you are buying it as-is.

We never used it, because when it was first presented to us we asked for the U.L. fire rated tests for it, and there were none. They tried to draw a conclusion that it was the same as the U.S products but they did not have the tests. And with out them you just aren't in compliance with code requirements.

As I noted earlier, if it is a new home, it is more likely to have all chinese drywall, or no chinese drywall, but it is difficult to tell, a good home inspector will recognize the symptoms, and some where to look for it without doing a lot of destructive testing. The longer a home has been closed up, without good air circulation and ventilation, the easier it is to identify this product. There were a lot of homes that were built during this period that did not have chinese drywall. I would not rule out houses in Florida built during those years just because of that. A good home inspector can usually find out pretty readily for you, but even that is not 100% fool proof, because there are some concealed areas where an inspector just cannot tell.

Man! What a Great Post! Articulated the process so well how can a buyer not come away better armed.

[mikey2]

I talk to a lot of people over at Lakeside and no one has ever mentioned that they or anyone they know has had a problem.

Where I am in Cypress Falls, there hasn't been one single person reporting even a hint of a problem. (and some of these people would complain about free money!).

If I were buying, I'd want to get the house inspected and feel confident it doesn't have it....but I'd still go for a newer house.

Mikey

[LaVidaEsCorta]

That's hilarious - someone would complain about free money! I know what you mean.

Big House, thank you for explaining so well. My question is, if it has such a strong odor and the house was built with the Chinese drywall, how long until you can smell it? Does the corrosive process start before the smell? It seems that if the house was built around 2004 -2006 you would be able to smell it by now. Am I not understanding?

[Big House]

Originally Posted by smiledoc1

Big House,
Great explanation. Thank you

Thanks Doc!
I know a lot of people are really concerned and a lot of people are wanting to buy a house here, or have recently.
I wanted to educate people about the process from a builder's stand point, and hopefully prepare them better about this issue.

[Big House]

Originally Posted by PaulieM

Man! What a Great Post! Articulated the process so well how can a buyer not come away better armed.

Thanks!

[Big House]

Originally Posted by LaVidaEsCorta

That's hilarious - someone would complain about free money! I know what you mean.

Big House, thank you for explaining so well. My question is, if it has such a strong odor and the house was built with the Chinese drywall, how long until you can smell it? Does the corrosive process start before the smell? It seems that if the house was built around 2004 -2006 you would be able to smell it by now. Am I not understanding?

I am not an expert on Chinese drywall. I have seen it, smelt it and seen first hand some of the corrosive damage it can do. There were several manufacturers from what I understand, and it may or may not all be exactly the same.

But, where I saw it, there was a very strong odor, and the house was closed up for a while, so the build up was pretty well established. I would think that it would "out-gas" pretty quickly, and you might not recognize what it is. If you have your house well ventilated, with doors open, like to the lanai, the smell would disipate fairly quickly, but the out-gassing would continue. I think you would begin to smell it fairly quickly, but with new houses, generally you have new plywood, new glue for carpet installation, new paint, new cabinets, you have a lot of new foriegn smells. Isolating the smell of chinese drywall might be tough at the time, and the corossive effects would take a while before you'd recognize that as well.

Yea, if a house was built between 2004 and 2006 you should be able to smell it by now, if it was all chinese drywall, but if only parts were, you would be exposed to the out-gassing, but with all the other smells you have you might not recognize it. I would think that if you are cooking a lot, you might smell the cooking over the smell, and not recognize the exposure - but it is still there.

Do you have to be fully exposed to the out-gassing to have problems, or just a little? Who knows?! I don't think the studies have been done, and everyone's sensitivity level is different. Some people have allergies, and some don't. Some people are very pollution sensitive and some aren't so much. This IMO is pollution, only with more direct, prolonged exposure. I know the experts will eventually sort it all out.

I hope that helps.

[LaVidaEsCorta]

Thanks for your help!!

[Ladywithafan]

Now I'm wondering if they replaced the drywall in my house on AMI with CD...will have to contact my xhusband on this one.

[Big House]

Originally Posted by Ladywithafan

Now I'm wondering if they replaced the drywall in my house on AMI with CD...will have to contact my xhusband on this one.

Thats part of the problem, if you look at the drywall, it turns color, maybe it was chinese drywall and because it looked like mold the mold got the blame, because no one was aware of the chinese drywall at the time, but everyone was focused on mold. I really have no idea, but I know that mold was blown way out of proportion. And, LWAF, I am certainly not saying that in your situation mold was not the culprit, because you have felt with a great deal of certainty that it was.

I believe that both can be a serious health problem - no doubt! But I also know that in many cases mold is harmless. I think that CD is a worse problem depending on intensity of exposure, duration of exposure, ventilation, pre-existing conditions, blah, blah, blah (other variables that the attornies will through in to make it more confusing).

The problem may be that unless samples were taken and preserved, you may never know. Often if you had mold like you had, they would remove it all and replace it. The same procedure, I would think they'd use with CD.

[Ladywithafan]

Our home was built in 1994. The mold problem became aparent back in 2003/04 and I believe the drywall was replaced in 2004.

However, the mold had already been documented prior to drywall replacement.