MANATEE — Tainted Chinese drywall should be considered a hurricane that hits homes and businesses from the inside out, say senators from affected states, including Florida.

Toxic effects of the Chinese drywall have caused damage and reported health problems in residents in Manatee County and other areas. Unless the suspect drywall is replaced by the residents or builders, homeowners evacuate — just as they would in natural disasters.

So shouldn’t the federal government following states’ disaster declarations help the evacuees financially?

Four Democratic U.S. senators including Florida’s Bill Nelson believe so, and they asked the Small Business Administration on Tuesday to review its authority to offer aid.
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U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is taking more concerns about tainted Chinese drywall to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

In a Tuesday letter to President Barack Obama, Nelson, D-Fla., asked Obama for a one-stop “federal Drywall Assistance Center.”

“What urgently is needed now is White House mobilization and coordination of all federal resources that could help homeowners,” Nelson wrote.

In April, Nelson wrote to Obama, asking him to remove Nancy Nord, acting chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. He accused the agency of being too slow to react to the drywall problem. In May, Obama nominated Inez Moore Tenenbaum, a former South Carolina schools superintendent, to replace Nord.
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Lee County Property Appraiser Ken Wilkinson addresses Chinese drywall problems in the following letter to property owners:

Many homeowners in Lee County are experiencing the anxiety of dealing with defective Chinese drywall in their homes. People have been displaced and their lives disrupted.

Unlike calamities such as hurricanes, flooding, and fire, defective Chinese drywall is a new disaster of sorts, but with some of the same consequences. Remediation or reconstruction can make your home uninhabitable, while costing many thousands of dollars.

In just a few days, you will receive your annual notice of proposed property taxes (TRIM Notice) in the U.S. Mail. It is important to remember that the values on your TRIM Notice reflect the value of your property as of Jan. 1, 2009.
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About 250 homeowners whose homes have defective Chinese drywall Monday night pleaded for state and federal government agencies to come up with a protocol to fix the problem so they can rebuild their lives and spare their health.

They also sought relief from the Lee County property appraiser for the sinking value of their homes.

Residents came from all over Lee County to a meeting in the Cape Coral library. Their homes were built by a variety of builders, but one thing is the same: They are all grappling with trauma to their lives caused by tainted drywall.

They didn’t get definitive answers because there are none. But it was clear their impatience is growing.

“When is the protocol going to come out?” asked Chris Ceorge of Cape Coral. “I don’t have a year to wait. At stake is my future financially and my health.”
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PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Homeowners with Chinese drywall could soon have something in common with hurricane victims.

U.S Sen. Bill Nelson sent a letter to the president asking for federal assistance and help centers for Florida’s Chinese drywall victims.

In the letter to the president, Nelson suggested that the Federal Emergency Management Agency help relocate the drywall victims and that the government offer low-interest loans and grants.

This same type of help is usually set up for hurricane victims.

Chinese drywall has been found in thousands of Florida homes.

Source

U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb of Virginia and other lawmakers sent letters this week to government agencies urging them to come to the aid of families and businesses hurt by tainted Chinese-made drywall.

In a letter dated Tuesday, the lawmakers encouraged the Small Business Administration to determine whether the agency has a role in helping home-owners and businesses affected by the drywall, which has been blamed for corroding pipes and air-conditioning coils and causing electronic appliances to fail.

“Families in our states are, in many cases, watching their dream homes turn into nightmares,” the senators wrote. “As the Federal government determines the full size and scope of this disaster, we believe it is important to marshal all appropriate Federal resources that may assist these families.”
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GAINESVILLE, Fla., July 27 /PRNewswire/ — A leading forensic expert on building envelope, water intrusion, toxic mold, and Chinese drywall, Spiderman S. Mulholland, Senior Forensic investigator and national consultant with US Building Consultants and US Building Laboratories Inc., has noticed that remediation is being conducted on homes and buildings across the state. It should be noted that remediation protocols have not been established, cross-contamination is occurring, and after homes have the sheetrock torn out and replaced, diffusion of sulfur diffusion continues to occur. This in itself should be considered criminal, but some individuals are even asking homeowners to sign away their rights to any future litigation or liability by having this sheetrock removed and replaced.
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MANATEE — WCI Communities Inc. says it built at least 200 homes, probably including some in Manatee County, using allegedly defective drywall imported from China.

The Bonita Springs homebuilder, now operating in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, also estimates it will face up to $40 million in drywall-related claims and has agreed to set up a trust to help homeowners as part of its reorganization plan, court records show.

“To date, and subject to further investigation and confirmation, the debtors have identified approximately 200 homes sold by the Debtors that may contain Chinese drywall,” WCI said in a disclosure statement filed July 2 in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware.

The $40 million in potential drywall claims is quadruple the $11 million WCI had set aside in January.

The statement offered no specifics, and a WCI spokeswoman did not immediately return a phone call Wednesday.
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BONITA SPRINGS — Financially strapped homebuilder WCI Communities Inc. has agreed to create a trust fund to cover Chinese drywall claims.

The agreement is spelled out in a disclosure statement approved by a U.S. bankruptcy judge in Delaware on Friday. The approval paves the way for WCI to proceed with its reorganization plan.

Now, WCI, headquartered in Bonita Springs, can begin seeking acceptance votes from its lenders and other creditors for the plan, which would enable it to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The deadline to vote on the plan is Aug. 19. A hearing to confirm it is scheduled for Aug. 26.

A group of Chinese drywall claimants challenged a previous reorganization plan, which did not include the trust account.

“This revised proposed plan was the product of negotiations and is the first step at finding a solution for homeowners impacted by defective drywall, despite the bankruptcy of WCI,” said Mike Ryan, a partner with Krupnick Campbell Malone, in a statement.
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NORFOLK, Va. – A new development into a story WAVY.com has been tracking for months. Saturday, a local businesses which sold Chinese drywall held an auction to help pay off growing debt.

Sam Porter, the owner of Venture Supply in Norfolk, said he bought the drywall to help with the demand for sheet rock. Soon after homeowners across Hampton Roads filed laws suits claiming the Chinese drywall had a sulfur smell, similar to rotten eggs. Porter was stuck with 65,000 sheets which ended up going to the dump. He blamed the drywall for putting him out of business.

“Sam looked for drywall,” said Porter’s sister, Andrea Culligan-Porter. “He got it from China. He had no idea at anytime that there was ever anything wrong.”
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