Does your Air Conditioner repeatedly break?
Do you know why?
If you are constantly having your air conditioner repeatedly fixed, serviced, or replaced, your home could contain toxic Chinese drywall. Drywall imported from China has been found to emit sulfurous compounds that are very corrosive to air conditioners, especially the evaporator coils. In fact, frequent air conditioner problems are considered a red flag for Chinese drywall. Some signs are: Frequent replacement of air conditioning coils, blackening or corroding of copper coils, blackened air conditioning tubing, and blackened copper lines leading to an air conditioning refrigerant container.
Was your house built between 2000-2006 and you’ve had problems with appliances?
If your experiencing frequent breakdowns of household appliances, including stoves, TVs, refrigerators, radios, DVD players, smoke detectors, microwaves and computers, and your home was built between 2000-2006, it is very likely that it was built with toxic Chinese drywall. The same sulfurous compounds found in Chinese drywall that ruin air conditioning systems can also destroy your appliances. If your appliances keep malfunctioning, or show signs of corrosion, and your house was built during the time Chinese drywall was pouring into the country, toxic fumes from this wallboard are likely to blame.
Chinese Drywall Maybe Ruining Your Home...
Have you had constant problems with corroded air conditioning coils that cause your system to break repeatedly? Have you had similar problems with TVs, stoves, microwaves and other household appliances? What about copper wiring, plumbing and bathroom fixtures that have turned black and corroded? Has something similar happened with other metals in your home, including silver jewelry?
If you can answer yes to any of these questions, and your home was built or renovated since 2003, you could be a victim of defective Chinese drywall. The toxic fumes from Chinese drywall can cause a multitude of mechanical and corrosion problems in your home. Some of these include:
- Repeated broken air conditioners.
- Repeated broken electrical appliances, televisions, microwaves, stoves etc.
- Copper coils on air conditioner units blackened and corroded.
- Corrosion or blackening of metal items, copper, silver etc.
- Frequent failures of copper piping in air conditioning units.
- Blackened and corroded electrical wiring.
- Blackened and corroded plumbing and fixtures.
- Corroded and blackened lighting fixtures.
- Blackened mirrors.
We offer free lawsuit consultations to homeowners plagued by Chinese drywall. You and your family shouldn’t have to spend thousands of dollars to make your home livable. We can make sure you are fairly compensated for your home’s remediation, and for any other losses you’ve incurred, such as the cost of temporary housing. If you believe you have a Chinese drywall problem, we urge you to contact us today to protect your legal rights.
Toxic Chinese Drywall
Since late 2008, the US Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) has received more than 3,600 reports from residents in 39 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico regarding defective Chinese drywall. Gases emitted from Chinese drywall are being blamed for significant property damage, including damage to HVAC systems, smoke detectors, electrical wiring, metal plumbing components, and other household appliances. Tests released in November 2009 by the CPSC of 51 homes confirmed that the presence of hydrogen sulfide was the essential component that caused the copper and silver sulfide corrosion found in Chinese drywall homes.
In April 2010, the CPSC and the Department of Housing and Urban Development advised Chinese drywall homeowners to not only remove the defective Chinese drywall from their homes, but to replace electrical components and wiring, gas service piping, fire suppression sprinkler systems, smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms as well. In short, homes built with defective Chinese drywall need to be gutted if they are to be made livable. It is estimated that properly remediating a home with Chinese drywall could cost as much as $100,000.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, some 500 million pounds of Chinese drywall was imported to the US starting in 2003. That means as many as 100,000 homes throughout the country could have been built with the material.
Chinese Drywall Demonstration Remediation Program
In October 2010, a settlement agreement for the demonstration remediation of 300 homes with Chinese drywall was announced by the federal court overseeing thousands of Chinese drywall lawsuits filed by homeowners around the county. Under that agreement, Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co, a major manufacturer of the wallboard, and other responsible parties agreed to pay for the remediation of 300 homes in four states. Part of the pilot program’s goal will be to determine just how much implementing the remediation protocol would cost when applied to several hundred actual homes. The demonstration program could pave the way for a global settlement of all Chinese drywall claims.
The program calls for Knauf and other defendants to see that the defective drywall is removed, and replacements made for electrical wiring, appliances including air conditioning, and fixtures damaged by drywall fumes. Knauf will hire the contractors to perform the work, and repairs will be inspected by an environmental engineer. Homeowners participating in the demonstration remediation program will also receive $8.50 per square foot to cover any additional expenses such as moving costs and temporary housing.
Under the remediation protocol establish by the court, the following fixtures could also be removed and replaced in affected homes:
- Hot water heaters
- Cabinets
- Countertops
- Doors
- Moldings and trim as required to remove drywall
- Sinks
- Toilets
- Bathtubs, shower enclosures
- Mirrors
- Ceiling fans
- Plumbing fixtures
- Exhaust grills and diffusers
- Marble pieces
- Doors and attached door handles
Legal Help for Chinese Drywall Victims
If you have been plagued by repeated breakdowns of air conditioning and other appliances, or have had problems with corrosion of wiring, plumbing and other metals in your home, you need to find out if it contains Chinese drywall. If it does, you could be eligible to receive compensation to remediate your home from the manufacturers of defective Chinese drywall, as well as builders and others responsible for this debacle.
We offer free legal evaluations to homeowners who believe they have a Chinese drywall problem. To find out how we can help you, please fill out our online form or call 1 800 LAW INFO (1-800-529-4636) today.
The back-side of this drywall (not normally visible to the resident) is labeled as "MADE IN CHINA."
The smaller sample (slightly gray in color) was taken from drywall which was removed
from the home and replaced with new wallboard (white in color).
The ground wire connected to the green screw is blackened and corroded.
This wire should be copper-colored.
This bathroom lighting fixture is pitted and corroded.
The copper coils on this air conditioner unit are blackened and corroded.
This copper pipe is blackened.
