Chinese drywall question (Tampa: bank owned, foreclosure, insurance)

[tom11011]

Hi group,

If a property in Florida has had chinese drywall and then had it removed and re-drywalled, is that documented or recorded somewhere? Or is it required to be disclosed if remediated?

Thanks

[Tim Tim Tim]

I dont know but I can only imagine that if it was replaced a permit would need to be pulled which would be public record.

[bentlebee]

If the property is bank owned than banks hide behind the claim they never lived there and have no knowledge.

A seller has to disclose but not all sellers will do.

The risk of a Chinese drywall property is the not knowing if every tiny piece has been removed and taken out and replaced or just a few walls. Many companies will cut corners on many items to save money while there are companies that are doing a great job.

Often with sink hole repair companies they will give you life time warranties but after getting sued they will quit the business and start under a different LLC or quit completely. What is the warranty good for if it is not with an insurance company but a company where you don't know if they will exist next year.

That also happened with friends of mine with a pool they had build and they had a long time warranty but the company filed for bankruptcy within months of the pool being installed and gone is the warranty.

No there is no guarantee and for drywall replacement no permits are needed but there are for electrical wiring and many contractors won't pull a permit and claim the county made an error...

If it is determined to be a Chine drywall home and not disclosed by a regular seller who knew or reasonable should know you still have to find the person which may be easy or not but it will cost you money hiring a lawyer and prepare for a long time court battle.

If the seller is find guilty of wrong doing then you still need to collect and some seller feel they can risk it.

Some investors will also claim they haven't lived at the property and have no clue but often they did know.

Homes build in certain time frame could have it.

Would I ever buy one? Heck NO! So I'm so nice to leaver the opportunity to others to buy the house... lol

[tom11011]

Thanks for the info.

[EngGirl]

Normally permit must be obtained is more than small piece of drywall will be replaced. But even if you can pull the permit (search for "xxx county permit search online"), there are no guarantees the entire house were fixed.
Besides that I personally would be concerned about other materials in the house for example wood frames that hold drywalls. These are never replaced and you never know what effect to your health it might cause.

[TampaKaren]

There's no single source I'm aware of. A few new home builders (M/I) stripped the defective drywall homes back to the studs and replaced everything (wiring, plumbing, drywall, etc.). Other builders are still mediating the cost in court - what a nightmare. Another thing to keep in mind that there were several hurricanes causing damage during the time defective drywall was used, so it may have been installed in older homes that were renovated.

There was some Chinese Drywall legislation inserted into the Dodd-Frank Act for government backed foreclosure homes (HUD, Fannie, Freddie), but I don't know that field services staff are testing the homes prior to re-sale. This would be after 2010 though.

There was and still is a lot of fraud in detecting and remediating defective drywall. If you need an expert, please verify their credentials, experience, and authenticity.

[Tim Tim Tim]

if your really questioning it (remodeling or the house being built during the time of this drywall) I would hire someone to check it out. If there is even a hint, RUN..

I remember a while back, we were working in this very large home (probably well over 5k sqft) and could not get dial tone to hold over the phone system. After we began pulling off some of the phone jacks to expose the wiring, we found that it was corroded worse than 50+ year old outdoor lines in south tampa. We couldnt figure it out, we joked that they must have wired this house with 2nd hand wiring... then the owners said "o yeah, we have Chinese drywall, its getting replaced next month."

I could not believe the impact it had on coated wiring, i cant imagine what its doing to other things we cant see..

[farewellohio]

Lennar house built in 2001 and not remodeled since. Inspector didn't look for Chinese d.w. But didn't point out anything weird. Think I'm safe?

[bentlebee]

I never heard of any Chinese drywall prior to 2005 so you should be fine. Check the electrical wiring.

[EngGirl]

Originally Posted by farewellohio

Lennar house built in 2001 and not remodeled since. Inspector didn't look for Chinese d.w. But didn't point out anything weird. Think I'm safe?

I would say you safe only by looking at built date. I didn't see any houses built here in Tampa Bay area in 2001 with toxic drywalls.
The way I would check is by going to attic and look on the back side of drywalls that are making your ceiling in the house, right down number and google. It's not always works since different drywalls could be use everywhere in the house.
Google builder + year + community regarding drywall issues.
Go to permit search site and search by street names (the street name of the house you are looking to buy and maybe next street to it) and see if drywalls were replaced at other homes.
But again, I am 99.9% sure you are fine.