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Chinese drywall causing problems in North Pinellas County and elsewhere

I had a disturbing call today from a good client who I sold a new town home to a couple of years ago. She told me that the home (which is in Tarpon Springs, in North Pinellas County) is one that was constructed with Chinese drywall.

Chinese sheetrock causing problems

If you don’t know about this Chinese drywall issue, here are a few facts:

Back in the height of the construction boom, around 2005 and 2006, there was so much new construction going on that American drywall manufacturers could not keep up with all the demand.  So builders began looking around for new sources.
They found it in China.

A LOT of Chinese drywall was imported into the U.S. around that time — maybe 10 million square feet of it. A good portion of it ended up in new homes being built in Florida.

Quite a few of those homes were built by Lennar Homes, including the town home purchased by my client.

What’s the problem?

All or most of that Chinese drywall appears to contain high amounts of sulphur and other materials that should not be there. When the drywall is exposed to dampness in the air, it begins to break down and emit a “rotten egg” smell.  The smell is not the only problem; it also corrodes electrical wiring, plumbing and air conditioning equipment.
And it also can cause some respiratory issues.

To their credit, Lennar Homes appears to be standing behind the homes they sold. In some cases, they are moving people out of the homes while they replace the sheetrock as well as the wiring and plumbing.

The problem is that we don’t know at this point what the scope of the problem is.  I saw a news story the other day that said about 300 homes in Florida had been identified as containing the Chinese sheetrock. With 10 million square feet of it having been sold in the US, the problem might be a good deal bigger than that.

I’ll be following the Chinese sheetrock issue and posting news about it here on the blog. Meanwhile, if you’ve had any experiences with the sheetrock, please tell us about it here in the “comments” section.

Tags: China, drywall, Lennar