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Thread: Chinese drywall emits corrosive vapors

  1. #1
    Gold Member Yearly Supporter McVaaahhh's Avatar
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    Chinese drywall emits corrosive vapors

    This would suck.

    http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/06/flo...rss_topstories


    PARKLAND, Florida (CNN) -- Yorelle Haroush fled a million-dollar South Florida home this week, chased out, she said, by drywall made in China that's emitting vapors that smell like rotten eggs.


    "It's making me sick. Physically, mentally and emotionally, making me sick," said the 18-year-old, who is pregnant with her first child


    Haroush lives with her aunt Amy Massachi and her four siblings and cousins in the house. They believe a year's worth of upper respiratory infections, antibiotics, bloody noses and sickness have been caused by the walls.
    Their doctor said they need to get out of the $1.2 million estate in Parkland, Florida, northwest of Fort Lauderdale.
    "I said, 'you can't stay there anymore, because you're sick every minute,'" the family's longtime physician, Dr. Ross Nochimson, told CNN. "They're sick on a weekly basis. Earaches, sore throat. I give them something, and they're sick again."
    Massachi and her family are among homeowners in more than a dozen states who allege Chinese drywall has emitted corrosive gases they believe have given them health problems.
    Homeowners also allege the gases corrode metal components including copper wiring, causing air conditioners and other household systems to fail. Read about homeowners' allegations »
    The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says most of the complaints have come from Florida, where the concerns emerged last year. But consumers also have filed complaints in Louisiana, Virginia, Wisconsin, Ohio, Alabama, Mississippi, California, Washington, Wyoming, Arizona, Tennessee and Washington, D.C.


    The Florida Department of Health says complaints it received -- more than 330 as of Tuesday -- generally involve homes built between 2004 and 2007.
    A study done for the Florida health department by private laboratory Unified Engineering Inc. found that samples of certain Chinese drywall gave off a sulfurous odor from "volatile sulfur compounds" when exposed to extreme heat and moisture. It also found that vapors "in the residential atmosphere created a corrosive environment in the presence of moisture."
    The health effects of those vapors are still the subject of several scientific studies.
    Odors and corrosion are clearly evident in the Massachi house.
    The pungent, rotten-egg-like smell permeates the two-story home. Throughout the house, electrical outlets are open to reveal black corrosion on the copper wiring. The air conditioning unit's air handler, inside the house, is blackened.
    "This is disgusting. It's so corroded. I can't even believe it," Amy Massachi said in a raspy voice. "I can't breathe. Every morning, I wake up with sinus allergies, my voice is hoarse.
    "My mother, when I call her up on the phone, she says, 'Amy, what's wrong with your voice?' and I say, 'allergies.'

    "'What are you allergic to?' I don't know. Well, now I know. I'm allergic to my house. My house is making us sick."
    The doctor recommends they vacate their 18-month-old home.
    "Before they bought this house, they weren't calling every week with allergies and sore throats and ear aches and coughing," Nochimson said. "I don't know what more I can do for them."
    Haroush, who after giving birth faces heart surgery for an unrelated condition, is moving in with her grandmother.
    "I'm graduating this year, and I'm having a baby, and I don't need to be thinking about anything else going wrong, and any more stress that is on me," she told CNN.
    Chinese drywall was imported into the U.S. during a different economic era, at the height of a housing boom. Prices were sky high, and the country was hit by two active hurricane seasons in 2004 and 2005, increasing the demand for home repairs.
    Suppliers were forced to look elsewhere for their drywall supply. Drywall, made from gypsum, is regularly imported from Mexico and Canada, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, but during this time frame, the U.S. looked to China to make up for the shortage.
    The Gypsum Association told CNN that enough drywall was imported from China to build 30,000 complete homes.
    Most of the Chinese drywall, they say, ended up in southwest Florida during the housing boom, where it was used in new housing developments.
    Some was also used in remodeling projects all over the country, so the number of homes affected is difficult to calculate.
    The Consumer Product Safety Commission hopes to have more answers in the coming months. They continue to test the Chinese drywall, including controlled tests in chambers and real-world air sampling tests in homes, to determine how the drywall interacts with other elements in an average house.
    "We don't deny there's a problem," spokesman Joe Martyak said. But there has been no positive link to adverse health effects.
    "We don't know what it is that's causing the sore throats or bleeding noses. We have to find out what's causing the problem," he said.
    The Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are doing studies on the health effects, but those examinations are some time away from completion.
    The Consumer Product Safety Commission is having ongoing conversations with Chinese officials, who will be sending a representative to the United States to study the problem.
    "They appreciate the seriousness of the issue here and trying to be cooperative," Martyak said.
    A handful of Chinese companies have been sued by homeowners and home builders.
    In the meantime, homeowners like Massachi face financial hardship.
    "Now, because they have to move out for health reasons, they're taking on a whole second (rent) payment," said Massachi's attorney, Michael Ryan.
    Ryan said he's had no luck trying to convince Massachi's home lenders to suspend mortgage payments until the house can be made livable again.
    He told CNN his clients are "having to make choices about their credit, and whether they are going to lose their home. But they're always going to pick their health first."
    Massachi agrees. A good look at her blackened air conditioning coil was all she needed. She's looking to rent a new place.
    "That's what I'm breathing in....I'm a little freaked out now, honestly," she said, her raspy voice cracking with tears.
    "It can't be good, if that's what that looks like and it's pumping throughout my entire house," she said. Eighteen months ago, Massachi says, she moved into her dream house, surrounded by family and friends. Now the dream is a nightmare.

    "It's worth nothing," she said of the home. "It's exclusive. It's pricey, and now it's worth nothing.
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    Re: Chinese drywall emits corrosive vapors

    Really, It took them a whole year????

    "a year's worth of upper respiratory infections, antibiotics, bloody noses and sickness have been caused by the walls & the Flies that say "GET OUT!!!!"."
    Fake Woman is too dumb to move out...

  3. #3
    Gold Member Yearly Supporter McVaaahhh's Avatar
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    Re: Chinese drywall emits corrosive vapors

    Quote Originally Posted by Horsman View Post
    Really, It took them a whole year????

    "a year's worth of upper respiratory infections, antibiotics, bloody noses and sickness have been caused by the walls & the Flies that say "GET OUT!!!!"."
    Fake Woman is too dumb to move out...
    Yeah, I think I woulda bailed after about 2 days of that shit. Woulda been at the builders with a baseball bat too...
    '02 RC-51 - Street
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    Be polite. Be professional. But be prepared to kill everyone you meet.

    "Motorcycles tell us a more useful truth: we are small and exposed, and probably moving too fast for our own good, but that's no reason not to enjoy every minute of the ride."
    ~Dave Karlotski

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    Re: Chinese drywall emits corrosive vapors

    It is not the lead we should ban, it is the chineese.
    First rule of the internet: *bleep* you and everything you stand for. Second rule of the internet: FKZOR U AND RRYTHING U STND FR!

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    Senior Member Captain Obvious's Avatar
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    Re: Chinese drywall emits corrosive vapors

    Another sub-standard product imported due to the lower cost? <shrug>

    Would you like a little lead paint on your baby's toy?
    The closest thing to immortality on this earth is a Federal government program - RR

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    Re: Chinese drywall emits corrosive vapors

    Quote Originally Posted by Devaclis View Post
    It is not the lead we should ban, it is the chineese.
    Amen.. Brother Dana, now we need to go tell it on the mountain

  7. #7
    AKA "Devaclis"
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    Re: Chinese drywall emits corrosive vapors

    My high horse and soapbox are tall enough for me
    First rule of the internet: *bleep* you and everything you stand for. Second rule of the internet: FKZOR U AND RRYTHING U STND FR!

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    Gold Member salsashark's Avatar
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    Re: Chinese drywall emits corrosive vapors

    wow... that's some old school RHH...
    Do not put off living the life you dream of. Next year may never come. If we are always waiting for something to change...
    Retirement, the kids to leave home, the weather or the economy, that's not living. That's waiting!
    Waiting will only leaves us with unrealized dreams and empty wishes.

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    Re: Chinese drywall emits corrosive vapors

    Quote Originally Posted by salsashark View Post
    wow... that's some old school RHH...
    Yes it is, Ok... Low Flying Plane... Gin & tonic Blues.... Houston... 400 bucks!!!
    Last edited by Horsman; Wed May 6th, 2009 at 02:51 PM.

  10. #10
    Gold Member Kim-n-Dean's Avatar
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    Re: Chinese drywall emits corrosive vapors

    I thought this was ooooolllllddd news...
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  11. #11
    Senior Member Jason ON's Avatar
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    Re: Chinese drywall emits corrosive vapors

    Quote Originally Posted by Devaclis View Post
    My high horse and soapbox are tall enough for me
    With all we've heard about Chinese made products over the past couple of years, I wonder when people will stop buying Chinese products. I guess that means people won't be able to shop at Wal-Mart...

    Is cheap really worth retarded kids and respiratory issues?
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