The Virginian-Pilot
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Councilman Jim Wood will ask the City Council Tuesday to ban the use of Chinese drywall when constructing or renovating a building in the city.
Wood said he has confirmation that gypsum wallboard imported from China was used in Virginia Beach in 2006 and 2007. The ordinance would require contractors to certify they are not using Chinese drywall when applying for a building permit. It would be similar to the ban approved in Norfolk last week.
“What I’m looking for is something that’s absolutely enforceable and protects the community but is not something done in haste that could be overturned,” Wood said Friday.
Manufactured in China, the drywall emits a sulfuric odor and is blamed for damaging air conditioning systems and electronic devices and for causing some health concerns.
At least 100,000 sheets of Chinese-made drywall – enough to build more than 300 homes – were imported to Hampton Roads in 2006 by a Norfolk-based distributor, Venture Supply Inc. After Norfolk’s ban this week, the company began disposing of its remaining 55,000 sheets.
The drywall has also been found in housing developments in Norfolk, Chesapeake, Williamsburg and northeastern North Carolina.
Several lawsuits concerning the drywall have been initiated locally, including one by five homeowners filed in U.S. District Court in Norfolk.
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Chinese drywall
Don't get China mad , they'll stop buying our debt . Then there will be less money in the Federal Treasury making all those campaign promises impossible. Joe Biden will probably say that you have to '' take one for the team '' to be patriotic.
Another one
Another one for the courts to throw out. Not only is in not based on any facts, cities don't have the authority to set up international trade barriers. If they want to specify the makup of the materials allowed for construction in the city they can, but they'll find the imported drywall passes the requirements just as well as the domestic.
Locking the old barn, after the horse gets out.
The only Chinese drywall you will find on the East Coast is now in the Suffolk dump. This is just pointless grandstanding by Mr. Wood because no on could purchase Chines drywall even if they wanted to. There is no shortage ever since the economy melted down last summer and home building came to a screeching halt. Maybe next week he can ban Thalidomide or people with swine flu. How about someone thinking about the next problem so we can avoid it instead of fixing a problem that is already gone. Oh, that would require actually having an original thought.
Why?
Is the problem already not prevelant so why the grandstanding after the fact?
Any contractor stupid enough to use Chinese drywall today should be sued off the planet.
How about rules and inspections protecting us from tainted imports period!
All from China?
Or come up with a standard that actually specifies what GOES INTO the drywall in a certifiable way.
That way some fly by night outfit from Florida or Georgia isn't able to make cheap wallboard made with the same ingredients as the stuff that came from China...and everyone is protected.
That however, would make too much sense, would be very precise and would get the job done in a very efficient way, it would NOT allow Mr. Wood to express his gift for pandering to those of the right winged "anti-Caucasian" sort.