Cheers!
Posted on 10/16/2009 6:57:14 PM PDT by stevie_d_64
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – James and Maria Ivory's dreams of a relaxing retirement on Florida's Gulf Coast were put on hold when they discovered their new home had been built with Chinese drywall that emits sulfuric fumes and corrodes pipes. It got worse when they asked their insurer for help — and not only was their claim denied, but they've been told their entire policy won't be renewed.
Thousands of homeowners nationwide who bought new houses constructed from the defective building materials are finding their hopes dashed, their lives in limbo. And experts warn that cases like the Ivorys', in which insurers drop policies or send notices of non-renewal based on the presence of the Chinese drywall, will become rampant as insurance companies process the hundreds of claims currently in the pipeline.
At least three insurers have already canceled or refused to renew policies after homeowners sought their help replacing the bad wallboard. Because mortgage companies require homeowners to insure their properties, they are then at risk of foreclosure, yet no law prevents the cancellations.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I don't blame the builders for hiring the illegal aliens. I blame our four-decade-old open borders policy. As long as we don't hire enough immigration enforcement officers to effectively seal the border and conduct workplace raids, we will continue paying through the nose in terms of welfare entitlement payments finagled through millions of fake ID's and stolen SS numbers.
Cheers!
Uhhhh if there was nobody willing to hire them (or put them on the dole) they would not come.
you sounding a lot like chinese apologist and that is not as in saying sorry!
confucius say, he with brick inner wall have cold house!
Very interesting....
I fail to see how these Chinese companies can be sued
Plus the American importers are partly to blame for bringing in the Chinese domestic (lower quality) drywall
There are importers and others here who can be sued
No out gassing there! With wood and brick
As usual, the law protects the big guy and screws the little guy with few resources to press his case. What about going after the builders and the importers?
Like many now, we do our best to not buy China. Anyone (well, almost) but China.
pnh wrote: “I am sure the builders passed the savings incurred by using this crap down to the buyers... just like they passed the savings incurred by using the illegals to build said homes, right?”
This is another issue, the materials may be good but if they improperly installed (ie by illegals who have not been trained) then you can have problems that rival toxic wallboard.
An example, if the windows are improperly installed in a stucco house, you have water in the walls. If you are in a heavy rain area like the pacific northwest, you will have problems within 5 years, and all the stucco has to come off to repair the damage.
During a building boom, anyone who can nearly swing a hammer is employed building houses. I think a good rule is, don’t buy a house built during a construction boom.
Where are the lawyers that you see on TV every day, trying to sue big companies for damages and liability? Why aren’t they going after the Chinese drywall manufacturers, the contractors that installed it, the realtors that sold the houses, the stores that sold the drywall?
My wife bought a bath mat for the tub.....
.....Chinese made and it stank like a toxic chemical factory for weeks.
The problem is, you can hardly find US made plastic consumer products like a bath mat. Nearly everything is Chinese anymore.
You’re right. I’d sur the balls off them.
You’re right. I’d sue the balls off them.
Right, and it’s going to get ALOT worse, not better.
Trojan Horse Sheetrock Alert.
Thanks for that post.
“These builders were nuts to cut corners on something so fundamental.”
I agree with most of your points. I would even say that the savings in drywall costs were probably much less than you state/guess, because $6/sheet is pretty much a retail price and builders certainly buy in huge bulk. I’d guess (and my guess is not one bit better than yours!) that the savings was in the range of $1-$2 a sheet.
It’s a greasy problem. I don’t think any of the builders gave a moment’s thought to this type of problem with stupid drywall...along with nails and pipe fittings and wire, probably the most base items used in construction. Builders don’t perform strength tests on the 2x4s they frame with. They don’t submit ordinary wire to UL Labs for insulation tests, they don’t subject 16 penny nails to hardness or ductility tests. They don’t submit samples of pipe fittings for presure tests. Should they?
I *have*, however, seen projects (for the most part, commercial) halted due to issues regarding concrete strength tests. There was a municipal jail built in Oakland CA a few years back that was found to have all substandard concrete in its construction. There were numerous things like this on the “big dig” in Boston. And of course, the polybutylene pipe and non-breathing stucco and aluminum wiring snafus that ran through the residential building industry some years back.
Those issues, were of course between domestic producers and consumers of faulty product. In the drywall case, there is probably nothing feasibly recoverable from litigation. Pretty cruddy situation.
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