Construction Law

Demand, Not Money, Prompted Chinese Drywall Imports

While most people seem to believe money was the motivating factor as to why homes in the United States were built with defective drywall imported from China, it is not. It was simply an issue of demand. Due to the increased demand for building supplies during the housing boom in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Wilma, builders, contractors and developers imported drywall from China in order to rebuild American homes. Over the past three years alone, 550 million pounds of drywall were imported from China into the United States. Since then, over 100,000 homeowners have found defects in the drywall used to build their homes.

In December 2008 inspectors began investigating claims of a rotten egg smell in homes which were built with the imported drywall. The smell was only the tip of the iceberg. In addition to the smell of rotten eggs, the drywall has also been responsible for turning the coils of air conditioning units black within a year of the home having been built. Copper wiring, copper plumbing and even copper coins in the homes were turning black. These cases were only found in houses with drywall imported from China. Of the homes which were initially investigated, a 'China' or 'Knauf' stamp were found on the drywall which indicated a link between the drywall and the defects.

This past March, Florida's Attorney General launched a criminal investigation into Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin LTD., which is a subsidiary of German-based Knauf, in order to determine whether the companies committed any deceptive sales or marketing practices.

Full post as published by Construction Litigation Law Blog on April 28, 2009 (boomark / email).