Organizers of a Dec.5 rally for homeowners with defective Chinese drywall have hit on a unique way to help pay for the rally, while at the same time making their point, according to an Oct. 28, 2009 Ft. Meyers News-Press article. They’ve opened the Official Toxic Drywall Store, where you can buy items bearing a skull and crossbones and the slogan: “got toxic drywall? a headache that just doesn’t go away …”
There are T-shirts, tote bags, bumper stickers, even shoes, said Brenda Brinku of Alva, an organizer of the rally from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Shell Factory in North Fort Myers.
The purpose is to network, provide practical help and “to get our message out to congressmen that we’re serious. We need help now,” Brinku said.
The rally is focusing on children affected by sulfur compounds emitted by the drywall. “We’re concerned about our children’s health,” she said.
Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, whose North Fort Myers home has chinese drywall, has pledged to be at the rally.
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An October 23, 2009 article in the Palm Beach Post describes one of the home inspections ordered by U.S. District Judge Eldon E. Fallon in New Orleans. Judge Fallon is presiding over the Multidistrict litigation involving toxic Chinese drywall. Judge Fallon has ordered the inspection of thirty homes nationwide.
The Post article describes the plight of Paul and Alli Sirota of Boynton Beach, Florida, whose $700,000 house was built using defective Chinese drywall. Health concerns drove the Sirotas from their home, but they were present when home inspectors looked for drywall markings or corrosion on electrical outlets, light switches, water heaters and air conditioners. The inspections do not address health considerations.
The court-ordered inspections are expected to wrap up soon, and the trials could begin as early as January.
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The Chinese drywall problem officially began with a few complaints lodged in Florida in December 2008. Homeowners reported foul odors in their newly built or remodeled homes, minor respiratory problems and corrosion problems with air conditioning system coils and tubing, bathroom fixtures and electrical outlets. Some homeowners reported leaving their homes due to the pervasive rotten egg smell.
However, complaints had been trickling in to Florida’s Department of Health since June 2008 of “rotten egg” odors in homes and it is now known that a few builders had quietly replaced corroding metal systems in some homes before the first public complaints were lodged.
By January 2009 the focus was on drywall installed between 2006 and 2008 and problems seemed to originate with unusually large shipments of drywall imported from China during 2004-2006. A boom in construction of new homes in Florida led to shortages of domestically produced drywall and a corresponding increase in the price of dwindling U.S. supplies. The problem was exacerbated in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Mississippi Coast quickly followed by Hurricane Rita’s extensive damage in Louisiana and Texas.
In 2005 two million pounds of Chinese manufactured drywall was imported into the U.S. By 2006 imports had grown to 500 million pounds and the product had been shipped to more than fifteen cities in the U.S. The Chinese drywall problem in Florida led to class action lawsuits filed in March against the manufacturers on behalf homeowners and to suits filed against builders who then filed against installers.
Forensic investigations in January 2009 discovered the sulphur contained in drywall imported from China was 20 times the amount present in domestically produced sheetrock. Complaints from homeowners in Florida were growing in number and were also rising rapidly from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast where many homes rebuilt following Hurricane Katrina were found to have used defective imported drywall. In March, media reports of the growing problem focused national attention on the problem.
Inspections of homes in Florida in March 2009 led to a cooperative effort of the CPSC, EPA and CDC who held a joint meeting on April 14, 2009 to design a federal action plan to compare the substances contained in domestically produced drywall as compared to contaminants potentially leading to a problem with Chinese drywall imports. Requests were sent to China for information about the mines where gypsum was produced. In addition, builders were asked to provide samples of damaged materials they had replaced in affected homes with a deadline for submission of September 30, 2009.
With reports of problems rising monthly, on June 15, 2009 the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ruled that cases involving contaminated drywall would be sent to the Eastern District of Louisiana with Judge Eldon E. Fallon presiding.
By July 2009, 608 reports of Chinese drywall problems had been received from a total of 21 states. Florida, Louisiana and Virginia reported the highest number of complaints. By mid-September the number of complaints had jumped to 1174. Only a portion of the imported sheetrock was contaminated but the high tonnage received in 2006 is expected to yield increased reports of Chinese drywall problems for some time.
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