Drywall Blamed For Homeowners' Nightmare

(CBS)  George and Brenda Brincku spent their life savings to building their dream home in 2004.

"When we put the roof on, my son - I'll never forget - he said, 'Mom, it's a castle. You've built a castle'," Brenda Brincku said.

But before long their castle was crumbling, reports CBS Evening News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian.

Anything copper corroded. Electrical wires were eaten away. Appliances broke down. And a noxious smell permeated nearly every room, forcing the family to leave.

"We were like, 'This is a brand new home. This should never be happening,'" Brenda said. "It's very difficult."

Now a growing number of Americans are suffering the same fate - wondering why their new homes, built within the last five years, are rotting from the inside out.

The problem: defective wallboard, commonly known as drywall. An estimated 60,000 homes nationwide - primarily in southern states and California - could be affected.

"We're taking this very seriously and our mission is to identify what are the facts and what are the risks," said Joe Martyak of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

As early as 2004 a housing boom led to a dramatic shortage of U.S. manufactured drywall. To keep up with demand, builders turned to manufacturers in China.

A document obtained by CBS News shows that by 2006, 228 million kilograms - about 500 million pounds - was imported into the U.S. from 20 companies in China.

Normally drywall is made purely from the stone-like mineral gypsum, and emits no gas or odor. But health officials now suspect at least some of the Chinese product was contaminated with dangerous chemicals, chemicals that have not only damaged homes also but raise unknown health risks.

"We're really concerned about it," George Brincku said.

Robert Gary is one of several lawyers who have filed class-actions lawsuits against Chinese drywall manufacturers. He called the failure of U.S. product safety regulators "a national disgrace."

"How did 500 million pounds of contaminated and toxic drywall make its way into the United States without anyone checking it?" Gary asked.

The fact is there are no federal standards for the inspection, production, or importation of drywall. Up until now blame for problems like the Brinckus' has rested squarely on the Chinese manufacturers.

But the Brinckus say they ordered 100 percent American drywall - and have the contractor receipts to prove it.

Is that what they got?

They believe either Chinese drywall is being passed off as American or contaminated drywall is being produced in America.

"The proof is in the pudding. And the proof is in the drywall," said Ervin Gonzalez, an attorney representing the Brincku family.

One major American company whose found product was found in the home, National Gypsum, says it has never received any other complaints.

CBS News wanted to speak with the CEO of National Gypsum, but we were told he was unavailable for an interview. Instead the company issued a statement saying it has never imported, re-branded, or distributed wallboard produced in China.

To add to the confusion, the Brinckus had a product they believed was produced by National Gypsum tested and found it to be contaminated. National Gypsum says it tested the same drywall and found it was not their product.

As for the Chinese company that finds itself at the center of the controversy, a spokesman argues it's unfair to point fingers in one direction.

"Any one home could have a lot of mixtures of boards in it, or have a board that is someone else's board," said Ken Haldin, of Knauf Plasterboard Tian Jin Co. Ltd.

That's exactly the kind of uncertainty that has left families like the Brinckus afraid for their health and facing an option they never dreamed of: tearing down their dream home and starting again.

[arkieguy]

The importation of Chinese (and other countries) products made with cheap labor working under horrendous working conditions is the only thing that has kept inflation from eating up our economy. Our manufacturers and government have decided for us that it is a tradeoff that they are willing to take, and we are paying and will continue to pay a price with shoddy and sometimes dangerous products.

[replycbsnews]

very very bad journalism. cbs is in for a lawsuit. sowing fear by say "contaminated with dangerous chemicals" implying a willful toxic saturation. while other reports say a naturally occuring iron dissulfide ore deposit in a mine may be the cause. tisk tisk, cbs is sensationalistic garbage reporting. sure the public needed to know but this is more of the "intentional dangerous product from china" bashing. big financial penalties will occur regarding the product, but cbs news also deserves one bit slap of a lawsuit.

[beach671]

Sucks for those homeowners ending up oweing hundreds of thousands for a home rotting away and killing them.

Their cars outside likely have some of the faulty Chinese valve stems that also are defective and could fail at high speeds killing them. There are so many of those on the roads of America it's impossible to recall them. You can't park every vehicle in America and remove every single tire to inspect the backside of the valve stems to see if it's stamped as the Chinese made ones.

Looks like the American dream is disappearing due to......Free Trade. Greedy Corporations/Politicians had to have made a bundle selling America out.

Quit buying Chinese crap or anything with Chinese crap in it. America needs to shift to some other country to make our goods.....AMERICA.

[lucytomato]

Well, I can't agree with you.Try to treat yourself in the same circunstance .If you are the boss ,what will you do then ? Employ American ,product in NewYork, use raw material which is also coming from America instead of other countries?
It's a good idea? if choose ,is it showing that you do not like profit ? do not like competitive strength ? and you do not want your company outstanding from other competitors ?
"No" and " That's market "

[cbsnewscomme]

Chinese don't even use drywall in their homes in China. They use a mix of lime coated over walls. Things made for US markets are usually carried out by US companies inside and operating in China....

[KeithinCapitola]

1) If the house is rotting away no one has said anything about what the duat fromt he wall board is doing to the workers lungs.
2) Again more material that we use, coming over in containers from China when we send them back empty, a friend works in Oakland Calif and said the ship with are 98% empty going back to China. Why aren't you hearing azbaout this from our so call representatives. Like Diane Feinstein that her and her husband have helped a large percentage of corperations relocate to China.(she passed the laws and he helped the corperations go to China) Now what has that done to or economy?
3) If we don't make anything in this country any more, but send just our raw resources over seas to be manufactured into usable goods, that's the definition of a "Third World Country".
4) One of the Biggest things that we're importing now is money from China, to keep America afloat. That is the sickest thing thast I've thought about in my life. I'm glad my parents aren't here to see what has become of this nation that their generation fought for in wW2 and our grandparents in WW1. Our so called 'representatives" have spent us into ruin like drunken sailors. And what is worst is that at the same time we are borrowing money from China, we're giving them foreign aid money!

[UncleBud626]

Not only has China sent dangerous drywall, but they have sent steel that has failed along with many other dangerous goods. America needs to wake up and again create a strong manufacturing base. Only then will we again be a safe strong country with strong middle class. Call you congressman every two weeks to state you veiws. Only then will your voice be heard. Emails do not work, as aides read them and usually sned a packaged answer. But, calls work becasue you are taking up phone time and when the phone gets busy with the same messages the congressman begain to listen.

[cussedgus]

Obviuosly, Americans want the creature comforts that come with what our fore fathers suffered for...a better life style, better education opporotunities, good jobs, competetive wages so we can persue the American dream...along comes Sam Walton and his dream becomes morphed into a national nightmare...We all still want the benefits of American industrial progression, but too many are willing to parlay those wages fought for years ago on cheap, inferior, unsafe, UNREGULATED goods from third world countries using slave labor enabled by tax incentives for American buisnessmen...what a damn mess!

[caligula1--2008]

A sound warning to take and test samples of all developer materials used in the construction of a new home. I'm working on designing our dream house now, and I believe I will be doing that during the entire process of actually building it. Unfortunately I'm stuck to hard paths that my rather heavy power wheelchair won't sink into, but I should still be able to get scrap samples from the work areas to have checked out by a lab, even if I can't actually observe as much of the work as I'd like.

[chris_n_ABQ]

The billions being saved by American companies off shoreing jobs or buying cheap products made over seas aren't being passed along to the consumer by lower cost products. They just pocket the extra profits.
--Posted by trillion1 at 6:24 AM : Mar 27, 2009

Yes! Exactly!
The liars who say businesses need less gov't tax etc., who say that the savings will be passed to the consumers, are LIARS

They simply keep the savings as profit! Any idiot can see that!

U.S. business has devolved into a pit of self-servient scum. Thanks Ayn Rand, thou goddess of the selfish: rot in hell!