The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), have released an updated remediation guide for homeowners with defective Chinese drywall.  The new guide lists the following to be replaced:

• all problem drywall
• smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
• electrical distribution components, including receptacles
• switches and circuit breakers
• but not necessarily wiring or fusible-type fire sprinkler heads

The two agencies believe that this guide will allow homeowners to remediate their homes at lower costs than previous guidelines.

Remediation Guidance for Homes with Corrosion from Problem Drywall as of September 15, 2011

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released revisions to their Chinese drywall remediation guidelines March 18, 2011. 

The most noteworthy change to their remediation guidelines is that the complete removal of electrical wiring in homes contaminated with the defective Chinese drywall is no longer recommended.  According to an article in NOLA.com, the decision came after the Scandia National Laboratories in New Mexico simulated 40 years of electrical wire exposure of the corrosive sulfide gases found in the problem Chinese drywall, but found no safety risks. This decision could greatly reduce the cost of remediating affected homes.

The replacement of receptacles, switches, ground-fault circuit interrupters, and circuit breakers is still recommended due to corrosion of exposed contact surfaces.

According to NOLA.com, it is unclear if the Chinese drywall homes chosen for the Knauf remediation pilot program, which calls for the replacement of all electrical wiring, will be affected by these changes. 

The CPSC has received approximately 3,810 reports of problem drywall in 42 states.

Click here to see the revised remediation protocol

The Consumer Product Safety Commission(CPSC) will be starting its first overseas office after being unable to influence Chinese drywall manufacturers to compensate US homeowners that were victim to the toxic drywall.

According to an article the in the International Business Times, CPSC Chairwoman Tenenbaum says that this new offices will help Chinese manufacturers understand our regulations and standards and will prevent defective products from coming into the US. 

In 2010, the CPSC recalled 220 Chinese manufactured products for various safety concerns.  However, the CPSC does not have the authority to force these foreign manufactures to reimburse people who may have had issues with the product. 

According to Chairwoman Tenenbaum, an office was setup in China because the country is currently the world’s leading exporter.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that it would give victims of defective Chinese drywall a tax break by allowing them to claim their homes as a “casualty loss.”  According to the NY-Times, this will allow homeowners to make a deduction for the cost of repairs and damaged appliances.

According to the new policy, homeowners that pay to repair the damage can claim the payment as a ”casualty loss” during that year, as long as they have not been compensated by insurance or another party.  A casualty is defined as, “damage, destruction, or loss of property that results from an identifiable event that is sudden, unexpected, and unusual.”

There are several restrictions to this policy:

• deductions are allowed only if the amount exceeds $500
• deductions are allowed on amounts that exceed 10% of the taxpayers adjusted gross income for that year
• if you DO NOT have a claim, or a pending claim, for reimbursement through property insurance, litigation, or another source, you may claim the entire tax break
• if you do have a pending claim, you are eligible to claim a loss for 75% of the unreimbursed amount paid for damages

Click here to review the policy released by the IRS

According to the Herald Tribune, Virginia Senators Warner and Webb agree that this is an important effort made by the federal government, to provide some sort of relief to homeowners who are struggling financially due to Chinese drywall.  Senator Bill Nelson of Florida commented, “This is welcome and long overdue news.”

According to CBS News, an estimated 120 homes built by Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina victims contain defective Chinese drywall and will be gutted and rebuilt.

Among those homes at least 40 located in Musician’s Village, homes donated by Harry Connick, Jr. and Branford Marsalis, where built with defective Chinese drywall.

Those living in the homes will be moved into rental apartments for at least two months while their homes are being gutted and repaired. CBS reported, “All electrical wiring, carpet, plumbing components, duct work, hot water heaters, insulation, smoke detectors and drywall, as well as some appliances, will need to be removed and replaced.”

The Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit organization, that built 280 homes between August 2005 and October 2009. The organization will be doing the work and covering all costs, while families seek reimbursement from the manufacturers of the defective drywall.

A majority of the homes were built with one type of drywall that was bought in bulk. The manufacturer, Taishan Gypsum Co., a known manufacturer to have importer the defective Chinese drywall into the United States during this time.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), as of July 2010, they have received over 3,482 defective drywall related complaints from 37 different states, DC, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa. In a status update released by the CPSC, combining information gathered by federal and state authorities, approximately 6,300 households have registered complaints.

Resources:

• ProPublica.org: Habitat Changes Its Tune on Defective Drywall; Must Gut at lease 70 New Orleans Homes
• CBS News: Bad Drywall Hits NOLA, Habitat Homes to be Gutted
• CPSC Drywall Information Center
• Chinese Drywall Claims

August 27, 2010

Knauf Gips, a German manufacturing company, continues to argue that it is not responsible for the defective Chinese drywall produced by its subsidiary Knauf Plasterboard Tinjian, according to an article from ProPublica.org, “Documents Tie German Company to Chinese Subsidiary That Produced Defective Drywall.”

Knauf Gips claims that Knauf Plasterboard Tinjian, its subsidiary, produced the defective drywall and therefore should be the entity financially responsible.

However, documents filed in Germany and in United States courts show that Knauf Gips is strongly involved in the management of its subsidiaries, which includes quality control, finding raw materials, and dealing with the issues arising from the defective Chinese drywall.

Steven Glickerstien, one of Knauf Tinjian’s attorneys here in the US has stated, “Each Corporation is a separate legal entity, responsible only for its sales and its own profits.”

The Consumer Product Safety Commission Drywall Information Center website states that they have “received about 3,526 reports from residents in 38 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico who believe their health symptoms or the corrosion of certain metal components in their homes are related to problem drywall.”

Today the CPSC has released, “Summary of Revision 1 to the Interim Guidance – Identification of Homes with Corrosion from Problem Drywall.”

Concerned your home may have defective Chinese drywall? 
Visit our website at www.ChineseDrywallClaims.com and download your free copy of “The Five Step Chinese Drywall Investigation,” and do your own inspection. 
Have questions? Contact our Chinese drywall Attorneys Toll Free 877-544-5323

A Chinese drywall town hall meeting was held in Newport News, VA last night with representatives from the CPSC.

According to Wavy.com, representative Jay Howell went over a the steps that the Consumer Product Safety Commission has taken over the last year in testing the defective drywall, as well as drafting remediation guidelines.

There were questions concerning water safety, health problems, and  foreclosure but there seemed to be no answers.

“There were no representatives from the Health Department or the Centers for Disease Control in the meeting. Del. Glenn Oder (R-Newport News) who co-hosted the event said he would reach out to those agencies for future meetings.”

Homeowners were not the only ones present last night.  Renters who signed leases in homes who have discovered that they have defective Chinese drywall also attended the meeting.  There concern seemed to be focused on getting out of the situation without ruining their credit.

On Tuesday, May 25th the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Drywall Information Center released a list of drywall manufacturers whose drywall produced high levels of hydrogen sulfide during testing.  They stated, “There is a strong association between hydrogen sulfide and metal corrosion.”

After testing they were able to determine the top ten samples which released the highest levels of hydrogen sulfide gases.  The top ten were all drywall samples made in China. Some of the emissions rates were documented at 100 times higher that drywall not produced in China.

The top ten included:

1. Knauf Plasterboard (Tianjin) Co. Ltd.: (year of manufacture 2005) China
2. Taian Taishan Plasterboard Co. Ltd.: (2006) China
3. Shandong Taihe Dongxin Co.: (2005) China
4. Knauf Plasterboard (Tianjin) Co. Ltd.: (2006) China
5. Taian Taishan Plasterboard Co. Ltd.: (2006) China
6. Taian Taishan Plasterboard Co. Ltd.: (2006) China
7. Shandong Chenxiang GBM Co. Ltd. (C&K Gypsum Board): (2006) China
8. Beijing New Building Materials (BNBM): (2009) China
9. Taian Taishan Plasterboard Co. Ltd.: (2009) China
10. Shandong Taihe Dongxin Co.: (2009) China

See the active emission levels for each sample here.

The CPSC has also listed other Chinese drywall samples that were tested but did not have significant hydrogen sulfide emission levels.

News Inferno reported that fires, potentially related to defective drywall, may be the newest of concerns that consumers and federal officials alike have been facing since the Chinese drywall crisis gained momentum in 2008.  Fire safety officials have been asked by federal officials to promptly notify them if they have knowledge of fires that may have some connection with defective drywall.

For those homeowners who may be aware that the home they live in contains Chinese drywall – but are not financially in the position to move out immediately – can at least take some comfort in the fact that officials are not aware of fire incidents that have been conclusively linked with Chinese drywall at this time.  The concern, however, is that since electrical wiring in homes may be corroded/corroding as a result of contaminated drywall, fire safety issues could arise.

The primary agency that has handled consumer complaints since the start of the Chinese drywall crisis has been the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).  The CPSC recently teamed up with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct extensive studies on allegedly defective drywall, in an effort to establish a connection between reported health and home issues with the drywall.

Over three thousands complaints were sourced from almost every state.  Specifically, 37 states and other U.S. territories have sourced complaints to the CPSC.  The complaints range from health related to home related; the complaints include allegations that damage has been incurred to air conditioning systems, components related to plumbing, and insulated electrical wiring among others.  Precisely, the root of the problem is thought by many to be related to the emission of sulfuric gas emissions.  Jewelry has even been corroded according to some homeowners.

Inez Tenenbaum is the head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).  Despite her small physical presence, Tenenbaum is not a pushover in any sense of the word.  President Obama trusts her to oversee a renewal of the agency – an agency of utmost importance during this Chinese drywall crisis period.   The CPSC, a federal agency, has had to deal with an influx of consumer issues in the previous decade – especially from China.

The Charlotte Observer reported today that a longtime friend commented on her “dynamite-like” personality, and that it would be a mistake to underestimate her abilities.  Dealing with China in a confrontational manner will be no easy task and requires tact and strategic decision making.  Currently underway in federal court, the Chinese drywall litigation has already experienced some issues associated with participation by Chinese parties.

President Obama appointed the feisty 58 year-old Tenenbaum to the position in recent months, as part of an effort to renew and revitalize the agency after budget cuts were imposed by the Bush administration.  Why exactly the Bush administration cut budgets for a key agency is beyond speculation, however, it is important to focus on the future, and that is what it appears President Obama is doing.   Since appointment, she’s dealt with problematic toys, cribs, and now – Chinese drywall.  Tenenbaum has not been shy from the public light; appearing on talk shows, hearings, and news stations proves her tenacity to inform the nation of the issues important to American consumers.