The Gypsum Files

Ninety-seven homeowners in four states have joined lawsuits against U.S. drywall manufacturers in the past year, claiming that their drywall is releasing enough sulfur gas to corrode wiring and appliances and cause headaches, nosebleeds, labored breathing and irritated eyes—complaints that until now have been mostly associated with Chinese drywall. Many families have abandoned their homes, fearing long-term health problems. Some are facing foreclosure, or even bankruptcy.

via American-Made Drywall Emerges as Potential Danger – ProPublica.

Lowe’s Companies Inc. has dramatically increased the amount of money [1] it is prepared to offer customers whose health or homes were harmed by defective drywall they bought from its stores. Those customers are now eligible for up to $100,000 in cash, instead of the maximum $4,500 in cash and gift cards that was previously agreed upon in a class action lawsuit that is being negotiated in a Georgia state court.

via Lowe’s Amends Settlement to Get Drywall Victims More Money – ProPublica.

(AP) NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge in New Orleans has awarded seven Virginia families $2.6 million in damages to pay for the removal of sulfur-emitting drywall made in China that has been linked to corrosion and possible health effects.

via The Associated Press: Judge awards families $2.6M over Chinese drywall.

From the Consumer Product Safety Commission:

HUD and CPSC’s two-step guidance requires a visual inspection that must show blackening of copper electrical wiring and/or air conditioning evaporator coils; and the installation of new drywall (for new construction or renovations) between 2001 and 2008. To view the full text of this guidance, visit HUD’s website or CPSC’s website (both documents PDF).

The guidance also describes obtaining additional corroborating evidence of problem drywall, since it is possible that corrosion of metal in homes can occur for other reasons. For example, homes with new drywall installed between 2005 and 2008 … must meet at least two additional criteria related to: the chemical analysis of metal corrosion in the home; elemental markers in the drywall; markings on the drywall; or specific chemical emissions from the drywall. Homes with new drywall installed between 2001 and 2004 must meet a total of at least four of those criteria. Collecting evidence of these corroborating conditions may require professional assistance and analysis.

Be sure to check the timeline on the right side of this site for more gypsum-related events and news.

This week the media have picked up on a story launched by CBS News claiming that corrosive wallboard may come from domestic producers as well as from China. According to the AP:

Of roughly 2,100 complaints received by the commission, about 25 involve homeowners who reported issues with American wallboard, [Scott] Wolfson [of the Consumer Product Safety Commission] said. That is not enough data to make a determination.

A University of Florida study conducted for CBS News tested new samples of U.S. drywall, new samples of the Chinese material and Chinese wallboard from problem homes.

The scientists found that most of the new U.S. samples released sulfur fumes, but at a lower level than the Chinese product taken from homes. However, the study also found that some American product had higher emissions than some of the new Chinese material.

Also:
Drywall troubles spread to domestic

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has released the results of a 51-home study (pdf, 190pp) of the effects of corrosive drywall today. According to the executive summary (pdf), the study found “a strong association between the problem drywall, the hydrogen sulfide levels in homes with that drywall, and corrosion in those homes.” The interagency task force will continue its investigation into health effects of corrosive drywall.

Hand-held XRF from Innov-x

News coverage of corrosive drywall is now moving into the topic of scams for the unwary. Ivan Penn of the Tampa Bay Times warns against unlicensed, unregulated persons bearing x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy guns:

Albert Freeland of Navarre is among those who offer the $500 XRF scanner testing. The XRF can search for traces of the metal strontium — part of the corrosive, gas emitting compound strontium sulfide that is seen as part of the problem with Chinese drywall.

Freeland says he has received calls to perform hundreds of tests across the state, among them requests to scan 90 homes in St. Petersburg and another dozen in Tampa.

Freeland says his background is in the construction business, which gives him his expertise. But it also is in the construction business that he found troubles. He says a partner wrote business checks that bounced and left.

Freeland pleaded guilty and no contest to several counts of fraud for insufficient funds checks in the 1990s. He also pleaded no contest to a charge of contracting without a license.

His son, Albert Freeland Jr., who is in the business with him, has liens for failing to pay federal taxes.

“He’s paying the money back,” the elder Freeland said. “He makes payments monthly.”

Freeland says his current partner for Drywall Detectors LLC bought the $42,000 scanner but wasn’t using it. So he began using the scanner to scan drywall.

He says the scan does not definitively determine that the drywall is contaminated, but the data is “an indicator” and he says “our method is about 99.9 percent.”

XRF itself is legitimate and appears to have potential for identifying the elemental markers of corrosive drywall (e.g.,  strontium). Of course, you can also determine whether you have corrosive drywall by looking for corrosion on copper pipes and wiring and a “Made in China” trademark on the back of your drywall.

In other news, the ASTM is working on a new standard related to corrosive drywall:

With heightened interest in issues involving corrosive gypsum board, the first draft of a proposed new standard on the subject, ASTM WK26072, Practice for Evaluation of Buildings to Identify Corrosive Gypsum Board, was reviewed and edited at a task group meeting on Nov. 10 in Atlanta, Ga.

The proposed new standard is under the jurisdiction of ASTM Subcommittee C11.01 on Specifications and Test Methods for Gypsum Products, part of ASTM Committee C11 on Gypsum and Related Building Materials and Systems. Development and approval of WK26072 is a priority for Committee C11, which has set a goal of publication in 2010 for the standard.

The task group meeting was attended by more than 25 participants including consultants, home inspectors, representatives of the gypsum industry and government entities. Following a positive question and answer session, the group reviewed the entire draft and agreed that the scope for the proposed standard would be to identify gypsum board capable of producing corrosive gases.

Scam warning

Today US senators from the states most affected by the corrosive drywall situation (Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Virginia) urged the Federal Trade Commission to take steps to protect homeowners from opportunists offering false “cures” for their problems. In a letter to the FTC they said:

…as the issue has unfolded and the problem has become more widely publicized, more and more companies and individuals have come forward to announce and advertise “solutions” for homeowners. These “solutions” are generally in the form of testing procedures to identify Chinese drywall or remediation protocols that claim to completely remove the product from homes. Some companies have even advertised that they are part of a national certification program — despite the fact that the Federal government has yet to fully determine the exact substances in this defective product.

View the entire letter here (pdf).

Cleaner air = bigger landfill

This article from the New York Times website gives a good idea of the relationship between coal-burning power plants, landfills, the drywall industry, and housing prices. It’s complicated, but it reminds me of the truism that you can’t clean anything without getting something else dirty.

Articles on corrosive drywall imports from China and their effects on homeowners throughout Florida and the Gulf Coast region continue to pile up. A trickle of occasional reports has turned into a flood; local newspapers are now covering it on a daily basis, and national papers are picking up the story as well.

Typical of recent stories is this from the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel (11/13/09): “Homeowners feel abandoned by builders who used Chinese drywall.” The reporter characterizes the current situation as “a stalemate” between homeowners who are seeking to be made whole and the various parties trying to apportion financial responsibility for the problem. It took a couple of years and a few hurricanes to get into this mess; looks like it’s going to take a lot longer for everyone involved to get out.

At the other end of the calcium sulfate spectrum, the National Geographic Channel will begin its Expedition Series this week. On Sunday, November 22, they will be airing “Giant Crystal Cave.” According to NGC, the giant gypsum crystals of Naica, Mexico, are up to 36 feet long, weigh as much as 55 tons, and are perhaps half a million years old. Wouldn’t you love to see these beauties?