http://snackfeed.com/videos/detail/fb04e6a0-a24f-102c-8790-00304897c9c6/Toxic-American-drywall-?_s=s
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. –Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz
Replies
Oh man, here we go.
Thanks for posting that. Cousin's having a new house built out near Phoenix.
ya know, that was a really interesting link.
I'm surprised there wasn't any response to it.
The Chinese have obviously infiltrated GP.
Maybe people are just tired of reading what might be an interested post on a subject, only to find some lazy sob has only cut and pasted a link.
It's pure video -- no text to copy into the post. You wanted me to post a transcript??
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz
Bad example, but you understand. Right? Didn't intent to single you out.
Nothing personal, lots of people post links instead of thoughts. Makes this forum more thought-less than ever before. Not that there's anything wrong with that....
If there were text to copy, I would have copied it. I didn't have the time to work up a summary, and I felt the topic was too important to not post the link.Sorry I upset you so much.
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz
Dan, there is nothing you can do or say to upset me in any way. But thaks for the thought.
No, but it would have been nice to post a sentence are two.I almost didn't even open the thread because there have already been many NEW threads started every couple of weeks about Chinese DW.And then when I saw that it was a link to some source I never heard and not know what kind of material it was I did not bother opening it until I saw others comment on it.Something like "CNN news report on problem DW from US manufacture.
.
William the Geezer, the sequel to Billy the Kid - Shoe
Like I said, I was pressed for time. It was either post just the link or not post anything.
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz
We forwarded it to our drywall supplier. He has been trying to get us to use GP board on the school we are doing because it is made locally. We insisted on using USG because it has more UL tested assemblies. They were promising all sorts of price cuts and incentives.
Glad we stuck to our guns. This could be a nightmare for GP, and honestly i won't be surprised if USG gets mixed up in it also. Mike
Small wheel turn by the fire and rod, big wheel turn by the grace of god.
Wonder if they'll be able to correct the manufacturing process, bury this bad press, do damage control and just go on?
You know, not a lightweight company type of thing.
The lawyers are calling every new home owner "was your house built with Georgia-Pacific drywall?".
Thanks for posting that.
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. I think a lot of us are staying away from the drywall threads because they quickly degenerate into useless political arguments about China and or globalization/mass-production.
Maybe as a result of GP being named (assuming it's not counterfeit) we can drop the political debate and get some factual info about the coal byproduct processing. Even going back to the fly ash/ toxic waste thread, there has been a lot of differing info about what waste products are going where.
k
I was kind of under the impression that gypsum from industrial sources had been used in gypsum board for years. I wonder if the problem's just due to cutting corners in the processing (possibly trying to cut costs in response to Chinese competition, just to throw in some pol-jive).
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz
This was on Dateline or one of the similar shows Sunday, might have been 60 minutes.
I don't mind links to pertinent construction information and abuse of solo linkage to those building data sites seldom occur on BT
as the old rampant dominance of posts involving the political spectrum only
are generally the guilty parties of that accusation.
So to clear the air here is some text dealing with the subject.
Cheers
http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/05/pf/saving/tainted_drywall/index.htm?postversion=2009060516
U.S. company accused of selling tainted drywall
The Swidler family thought they had their dream home - but now they fear for their health.
By Gerri Willis, CNN personal finance editor
Last Updated: June 5, 2009: 4:26 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNN) -- It was supposed to be a dream home for the Swidlers of Clermont, Fla., but it turned out to be a nightmare.
Jill Swidler recalls the string of mishaps that eventually became the clue that something was wrong. "The AC went out, the appliances went out, we had jewelry tarnishing and the plumbing fixtures tarnishing, but none of that seemed to be related," she recalls.
The Swidlers had built their home themselves. Michael Swidler, a construction foreman by trade had overseen the building of more than 500 homes in Florida. For his own home, he bought 289 sheets of Toughrock brand drywall, made by Georgia Pacific, at a nearby lumberyard.
In the months after they moved in, however, the couple's air conditioning broke down, and other appliances also faltered. Metal faucets corroded. The fire alarm would go off randomly, copper wires turned black and soot blanketed fixtures. The house smelled of sulfur.
The Swidlers knew about complaints regarding tainted Chinese drywall, which had posed similar problems for homeowners in many states. But their walls were lined with a product made by an American company.
Brian Warwick, who represents the Swidlers in their lawsuit against Georgia Pacific, says the problem with the drywall used in their home, a Georgia Pacific brand called Toughrock, is that its key ingredient is synthetic gypsum -- which contains chemical material scrubbed from the exhaust of coal-fired power plants.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has an investigation into drywall, with a focus on electrical and fire safety issues in homes and consumer reports of health symptoms. CPSC staff has collected samples of both imported and domestically manufactured drywall and is testing that drywall. The commissioner said in a statement that no conclusions have been reached. A report is expected in the coming weeks.
The Florida Department of Health and the Department of Environmental Protection says the Swidler's home "appears to have the same symptoms as homes containing Chinese drywall" in which state and federal studies have found sulfur. Georgia Pacific declined to comment on the Swidler's suit. However, the company released this statement: "We are disappointed that they elected to pursue a lawsuit without first informing us of their concerns, ..We stand behind the quality of our products and take customer complaints seriously."
For now, the Swidlers have moved out of their home and into a rental home nearby. They are afraid for the health of their family. View Image
First Published: June 5, 2009: 4:22 PM ET
Edited 6/8/2009 11:55 pm ET by rez
I was kind of under the impression that gypsum from industrial sources had been used in gypsum board for years.
That's probably true. But I believe the coal plants are required to scrub more badness from their smoke, so I think the question of what to do with that stuff is a bigger issue now.
Also, fly ash dumps have been the sites of serious problems (like the Tennessee mess, or the Gambrils (sp.?) site in maryland), and the EPA has been "considering" whether it is hazardous waste for years, and may come to a decision at some point. It's harder to simply dump it now. There may be more pressure to feed a bit of that into the synthetic gypsum.
USG, for instance, claims that the synthetic gypsum they filter out is precisely the same as mined gypsum, but then they hedge their bets by saying that "some impurities" may be in the final product. Whether "some" is 1/10% or 1% or 10% they do not say.
Or, it may be economics and competition with globally sourced products, as you point out.
Or, it may be counterfeit industrial goods- that's more common than you might think.
k
We used Tough-Rock when it first came out about 10 years ago for a few jobs and then we decided we didn't like it. I always insisted on USG Sheetrock or National Gypsum.
If this is true about GP..oh boy..well then Mr. President please do not bail them out.
"if it's going to corrode our house like it has, it's got to be doing something negative to our bodies"
eh - not to minimize the issue of drywall causing issues, but that statement is not much of an argument - sodium chloride would corrode their house, but I'd bet they'd still shake it on their food -
florida, it seemed? - on the beach? in the salt spray? -
I defer judgement -
Chorine fumes from that indoor/3 season pool may have some contributing factors I would think.
Getting a lawyer before contacting the supplier/manufacturer is also suspect IMO.