Mike Saewitz
The Virginian-Pilot
©
A Norfolk-based construction supplier said Thursday that it imported 2,000 pallets of China-made drywall -- enough to build at least 240 homes -- and sold pieces locally between March 2006 and December 2008.
Such wallboard has been the focus of complaints in several states by people who say it emits a corrosive gas that damages household electrical systems and causes respiratory illness. It appears to have been used in at least two developments in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake.
A Virginia Beach developer is inspecting 60 homes suspected of containing the defective drywall.
Separately, on Thursday, two more people in Hampton Roads said they were informed their homes contain Chinese-made drywall.
An attorney for Venture Supply Inc., the Norfolk business that imported the Chinese drywall, said the company could not determine how many homes contain the wallboard.
"A lot of our sales are to builders, not to homeowners," said Mark Nanavati, an attorney for the company. "So I don't know if we could even technically do that."
Venture's owner, Sam Porter, did not return several calls for comment. For the past few weeks, Venture has been going over its records and lining up a team of specialists to determine how to take care of complaints from the drywall, Nanavati said.
One of the people confirming the presence of the Chinese drywall on Thursday lives in the Norfolk condominium complex Harbor Walk, a 240-unit community built in 2006 by Wermers Development. The company sold the development to Florida-based Henin Group, which said it is in discussions with Venture to determine whether defective drywall was used.
Michelle Germano said she began to smell sulfur throughout her home just months after purchasing her Harbor Walk condo in June 2006.
In the past two years, she said, her air conditioning unit has gone out four times, and several other appliances have failed. Germano, a nurse who works from home, said she has suffered from respiratory problems and daily headaches. She is in the process of finding a place to rent until her home can be restored.
"I'm very concerned that this gas has permeated everything I owned," she said.
Venture said that residents whose homes were built before March 2006 do not have the drywall. The company advised residents to look for Venture's name stamped on the back of the wallboard, which could sometimes be seen in the attic.
The Dragas Companies has acknowledged that Chinese drywall from Venture may have been used in some homes in The Hampshires at Greenbrier in Chesapeake and Cromwell Park in Virginia Beach.
Venture said it imported the drywall because the domestic-made product was nearly impossible to obtain around March 2006, and "builders and developers were demanding building supplies," according to a letter given to customers. The imported drywall cost Venture more than domestic drywall, the letter said.
In a statement, the company said it imported the drywall from Shandong Taihe Dong-xin Co. Ltd., a Chinese company that has been connected to defective drywall found in homes in Florida. The company's parent is owned by the Chinese government and is one of China's largest new building materials manufacturers, according to a report this week in the Sarasota, Fla., newspaper.
The issue has gotten an increased amount of national attention in recent weeks. Two U.S. senators recently intr oduced a bill to recall and ban tainted building products from China. One of them, Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, also called for the firing of the country's top consumer affairs advocate for not moving faster to deal with homeowners' concerns. The issue is the subject of several lawsuits, including one against the Chinese company that sold drywall to Venture.
A Miami attorney said he is planning to file a class-action suit in Virginia against developers who do business in the Norfolk area. The attorney declined to name the developers but said Dragas would not be included because it has offered to replace drywall in any homes that are found to have the Chinese-made wallboard.
Colleen Nguyen lives in a five-bedroom Virginia Beach home off Little Neck Road. Venture told her that her home contained the wallboard, she said.
That home was built by a company called Curb Appeal Home Builders Inc., Virginia Beach records show. Several messages left with Curb Appeal's president were not returned.
The drywall was installed by The Porter-Blaine Corp., whose president is Porter, Venture's owner.
Nguyen moved into what she described as her "dream home" in early 2007. She said her family began to notice a burnt smell in the living room when the heat or air conditioning was on.
On Thursday, she pulled out a few electrical outlets to show copper wires that had turned black.
Nguyen said she is worried about long-term health effects, even though Florida's health department said preliminary tests showed no specific health hazard from gases from the drywall.
Since moving in, she has experienced frequent sore throats. Her 11-year-old daughter began to have itchy eyes.
"We just assumed she had allergies," Nguyen said.
Pilot writer Harry Minium contributed to this report.
Mike Saewitz, (757) 222-5207, mike.saewitz@pilotonline.com
Josh Brown, (757) 446-2318, josh.brown@pilotonline.com
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The multiple class-action
The multiple class-action lawsuits prepared by attorneys are absolutely ridicules. Whom are they going to sue? The homebuilder, it is not their fault… they built the home in good faith. The wallboard distributors, they also had no idea the product was bad. The main culprit in this deal is China; they own the wallboard plants where the tainted product was made, and the US has borrowed so much money from them that they won’t loan us a dime more. The best thing for these affected homeowners to do is dump their attorney and report their problems to their local health department so they will be on the list when the solution is available. To try to get the Homebuilders to pay for this deal will bankrupt the industry. We don’t even know how widespread this problem is because the “greedy attorneys” have advised their clients not to report the problem to the government that is trying to help them. We know there are at least 30,000 cases in Florida alone and as of last week less that 400 cases had been reported. If this deal is left to the attorneys the only ones that are going to see any money out of this deal ARE the attorneys. Our company is working on a solution to this proble
The construction companies
The construction companies have to replace this stuff, or they would get sued to high heaven. They want to protect their names. They might have insurance that covers it, and to be honest the number of homes isn't that great compared to the profits they made during the mania. With regards to unions, what do they have to do with anything? If I'm going to build a plant it's going to be automated to need the least number of people possible.
left one out
Didn't mean to exclude "demand" as a cost driver, too.
Gov't regs, taxes, greedy mfg's, . . .
. . . greedy distributors - no argument here, but nowhere in these interesting blogs have I seen mentioned the role unions (more specifically union leadership vice rank and file) no doubt played in the higher costs of domestically produced drywall.
Like so many other goods we used to produce (and not to defend any business owners who truly were greedy) costs usually go up while quality & productivity go down once unions get their tentacles in.
I'm sure it's just coincidence the large union leaderships ALWAYS support Democrat Party candidates (using the membership's union dues, of course!)
That doesn't help
Did I mention...my family is in the drywall business! I cannot tell you what Venture paid for drywall...but I can tell you what their customers pay for it. What part of that do you not understand?
You said "my understanding" and not "my invoices". Understanding = heard from someone that heard from someone. Where did you did you see the board for sale? How did you know which was which?
Costs for EvanJ
Did I mention...my family is in the drywall business! I cannot tell you what Venture paid for drywall...but I can tell you what their customers pay for it. What part of that do you not understand? Keep your eyes open and you will see the government will cover the damages and I will tell you "I told ya so".
Guess where we get our steel from??? That's right China! Its cheaper to send the ore to China and have them make steel and ship it back to us.
I know where you can get some Chinese Drywall really cheap now!
Chinese Drywall Replacement
I know a Hampshires owner and Dragas is doing far more than just replacing the bad drywall. They are replacing ALL of the drywall, not just the imported stuff. And they're replacing the interior heating and AC workings, wiring and plumbing materials that have been damaged by the drywall. Even insulation, light switches and outlets, smoke detectors and carpeting are being replacd. And they are giving an extended warranty on all that work. She says that they are repairing or replacing personal things like computers that have been affected by the Chinese drywall. Sounds like they've got it covered.
Where is the rest of the story?
Before you start the BBQ on the local business, the grill needs to be full. Lets see the story about USG and their company that imported drywall as well during the same time frame. Hmm, I wonder why the largest producer of drywall in this country had to out source and import? It is pretty simple, demand. The story runs deeper then what merely lays on the surface. USG manufactures more then just drywall in China. Here is a challenge for you Pilot, do a complete investigation and fill in all the blanks!
Does anything safe get
Does anything safe get produced for us by China? How about Vietnam and everyone else flooding us with clothing, etc.? With a catastrophe every week or so from China, who has time to check on the other countries' output? Why worry about eating healthy and quitting smoking when stuff like this has the potential to be equally deadly, especially that which is never uncovered. This is really some fine global economy we've got going!!! Simple competition doesn't work like it used to work. It has become so muddied with all the crap mentioned in these other comments that the consumer doesn't have a fighting chance of getting anything of real value and quality, no matter what we pay. It is all tainted in some way. So disgusting.
ummm lookmannohands..
Did you read the first paragraph before you made your snarky "change we can believe in comment"
"A Norfolk-based construction supplier said Thursday that it imported 2,000 pallets of China-made drywall -- enough to build at least 240 homes -- and sold pieces locally between March 2006 and December 2008."
When did President Obama take office? January 20, 2009?