The Virginian-Pilot
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Federal agencies need to move more quickly to determine if Chinese-made drywall poses a health risk to home-owners, Sen. Mark Warner urged Thursday.
The wallboard has been the focus of complaints in several states, including Virginia. Home-owners say it emits a corrosive gas that damages household electrical systems and causes respiratory illness.
"I fear that we're just at the tip of an iceberg of what could be a... national disaster, that is both a health care disaster and for many families is going to be a financial disaster," Warner, D-Va., said in a Senate hearing on the drywall issues.
Warner asked officials from the Consumer Product Safety Commission and Environmental Protection Agency to send field agents to conduct tests in homes in Virginia built with the wallboard.
Warner also urged officials to publish information for home-owners on how to deal with the drywall while legal and regulatory agencies work on a resolution.
"It's stunning to me that we have people... having symptoms just from going into these homes to do these tests," Warner said. "And we're leaving the homes and then saying to the homeowners, 'Hang in there.' That's outrageous."
Senators from Florida and Louisiana have called on Congress to include $2 million in an appropriations bill to help federal agencies perform tests on the drywall.
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.
This week, after the Norfolk City Council voted to ban the drywall, the company began the process of disposing of its remaining 55,000 sheets of the wallboard, said Sam Porter, the company's president.
Venture distributed the wallboard between March 2006 and December 2008.
The drywall since has been found in housing developments in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, 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.
The suit seeks class-action status and damages in excess of $5 million from a local developer, a distributor and a Chinese manufacturer of the drywall.
Earlier this week, the EPA revealed that tests on Chinese-made drywall showed high levels of sulfur and strontium, which is used in acrylic paints. The agency performed the tests on wallboard taken from two Florida homes.
Those materials were not found in high levels in samples of American-made drywall also tested.
Colleen Nguyen, a Virginia Beach resident who discovered Chinese-made drywall in her home, attended the hearing Thursday and later met with local congressional representatives.
"To hear our words coming out of Warner's mouth, it made us all tear up and made us think someone was finally listening to us," Nguyen said. "He was after the personal side of this: What are they going to do with their mortgages?"
Jason and Lisa Dunaway learned a couple of months ago that Chinese-made drywall was used in their Courtland home.
"We came here today to find out more about what is in the drywall, find out more about the health issues we've had," Jason Dunaway said.
The Dunaways built their home in the early months of 2007 and since have spent nearly $20,000 replacing air-conditioning coils, televisions and computers. The family has fought nosebleeds, fatigue and watery eyes.
"It gave us a ray of hope that our representatives are standing up for their people," Jason Dunaway said. "It's felt like it's been falling on deaf ears."
Josh Brown, (757) 446-2318, josh.brown@pilotonline.com
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To be fair, China bought our
To be fair, China bought our debt as investments, which enabled our people to borrow more money from the banks to buy the homes in the first place. Our country was already broke.
Second, how much does it cost to replace all the drywall in a house? I would guess that the legal (and illegal) labor that originally hung it should be available to work at lower rates given the slowdown in demand as people aren't "snapping up" homes before they are "priced out forever" since they aren'"making more land."
It stinks that they got bum product but it can happen anytime, anywhere.
Look at the facts
And now the problem has mushroomed. I fail to see how this is propaganda. It is a real problem...affecting real people, and when you take into account the numbers of homes affected (with price tags of $250,000+ for each affected home) It does not take a rocket scientist to see what a difficult problem this has become|is going to be.
First, the number of complaints is around 180 which is an insignificant number compared to the population. Now look at the very first line of this article:
Federal agencies need to move more quickly to determine if Chinese-made drywall poses a health risk to home-owners
That should tell everyone that there has been no investigation that showed a problem with the drywall. If there was then why would he be asking for one? You can also google the subject and try to find any scientific report on the subject, and you won't find one. It's all politicians and lawyers.
Not covered by insurance
To EvanJ and RTaylor.
Wallboard is not covered by homeowners insurance...defective building materials usually are not.
Also, people started complaining about the problems with this wallboard almost a year ago...starting in Florida. It took almost 6 months for their claims to be taken seriously.
And now the problem has mushroomed. I fail to see how this is propaganda. It is a real problem...affecting real people, and when you take into account the numbers of homes affected (with price tags of $250,000+ for each affected home) It does not take a rocket scientist to see what a difficult problem this has become|is going to be.
I disagree
This is NOT a Government issue!! You have home owners insurance let them fight for you.
I think it is. Lack of facts + nationalism + racism + high exposure = propaganda.
Drywall
This is NOT a Government issue!! You have home owners insurance let them fight for you.
responsibility
Is in the hands of the chinese company that made the defective product. SUE THEM!
Maybe you should listen to
Maybe you should listen to the whole hearing:
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.LiveStream&Hearing_id=7036283d-9d1e-4954-8903-b851ba32a49e
SueW
I have to agree with you. Why do we keep buying so much from a country where even the government owned factories are putting out products which are poisonous? And even more troubling, why aren't they being tested by our government on arrival for noxious and poisonous chemicals. Are we that committed to buying the cheapest products no matter about the quality. I guess if I were to look at the crowds at Walmart and other big-box stores, that answer would be obvious, considering how much of their goods come from China.
I think its time we seriously think about going back to "Buy American"!
Sue the builder
Warner needs to butt out and let the legal process work.
Sue the builder and supplier...Afterall they took advantage of the homeowner and made millions.
I am getting sick and tired of the government using taxpayer dollars to "hook a brother up".
How about all the struggling homeowners that are losing their homes everyday through foreclosure.
Their not helping them out in any way, unless of course you have stellar credit.
hahaha@bad picture
That's his normal face... when he smiles, he reminds me of a donkey...
But it's nice our officials SEEM to be taking an interest in our concerns, although I will go ahead and say it's probably for more personal political interests rather than them actually doing what they're paid for. Maybe one day we'll limit what we import from China...