Company: We Didn't Make Toxic Drywall

(CBS)  A major American drywall manufacturer said Tuesday that test results show their product is not defective and the source of problems for one Florida home.

George and Brenda Brincku of Alva, Florida say their house, which was built in 2004, has deteriorated and become uninhabitable because of contaminated drywall. Chinese manufacturers were implicated as the source of the bad drywall in the U.S.

But the Brincks claim - and can document - that their home was constructed only with American product that came primarily from one of the nation's leading domestic suppliers, National Gypsum.

CBS News Investigates reported on the Brinckus' case last month.

National Gypsum, which is based in North Carolina, hired an independent engineering firm from Illinois to investigative. Experts cut out several samples of drywall throughout the Brinckus' home over the course of seven days in early March.

"Tests results clearly show that wallboard is not the problem in the home," a statement from National Gypsum says. Furthermore, "none of the wallboard exhibited the problem characteristics of the Chinese-produced board."

Nancy Spurlock, a company spokesperson, told CBS News that extensive lab testing included a "jar test" in which none the drywall from the Brincku home reacted like a defective piece of Chinese-made drywall did. Spurlock also said air testing confirmed there was no "detectable level of sulfur compounds in the home."

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See images of defective drywall and learn more from the Florida Department of Health.

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"I am shocked," said Brenda Brincku. "I can't believe they would deny that we have defective drywall."

The conditions in the Brincku home were so bad that the family was forced to move out. The family also says they meet four of the five criteria that the State of Florida established for identifying defective drywall.

Those criteria are the "presence of sulfur-like or other unusual odors" in the home, "observed copper corrosion," "documented failure of air conditioner evaporator coil," and "confirmation by an outside expert or professional [of] the presence of premature copper corrosion."

The Florida Department of Health posted a series of photos on their Web site showing the type of damage the defective construction material causes. The Brinckus claim that six of the photos are from their home.

"Clearly they have a problem," says Spurlock. "But, it's not the wallboard."

Susan Smith, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Health told CBS News she could not comment on specific homes and says their focus is to "determine if any health risks are involved."

In January, reports first started surfacing of foul-smelling drywall that was causing a variety of structural problems inside Florida homes. Since then, controversy has swirled and spread to hundreds of homes in several states. Some homeowners have filed lawsuits and investigators have pointed a finger at at drywall imported from China during a U.S. housing boom in 2004 and 2005. But the root cause and how widespread the problem may be have yet to be determined.

Spurlock says National Gypsum is willing to help the Brincku family investigate what damaged their home. The Brinckus, however, have spent thousands of dollars so far trying to fix the damage and they are not sure how they are going to survive financially.

[GeneralContractorCA]

Why think it's the drywall when it has been tested and found not to be the issue? There are plenty of other factors that could be causing the problem. Have the place tested. Just isn't that difficult folks...

[mingwong-2009]

Nobody with half a brain believe these company. every body knows the will lie, cheat and steal. to get their money.the dont care about the people as along as the get payed. they wouldn't know the truth if the where slaped in the face with it.

[riddelup]

I am no expert but it seems like national gypsum is saying you cannot blame us because our drywall is not like the Chinese drywall. To me this does not make your drywall safe.

[taffetalee]

We are close friends of the Brincku's. We have been in their new home. We know for certain that the Brincku's are NOT in this for the money! They are upright people with integrity. Obviously, it sounds like there is a cover up, somewhere by someone who manufactured or sold the Brincku's drywall. Why is the consumer the target? They want to live in their new house. They don't want to go through this problem that has been thrown upon them. The manufacturer or company that sold them the drywall is obviously at fault & instead of denying it, should own up to what has happened & try to help the Brincku's. But, I suppose, all this will lead to class action lawsuits, eventually, before the businesses that are responsible will take any action to help the homeowners. Such is usually the case in our society. We challenge the drywall manufacturer/supplier/seller to make a difference: take responsibility for their actions, look for solutions to the problem & help the people who are suffering. Our sympathy goes out to the Brincku's & others like them who have the same drywall problems, & encourage them to not give up.

[Gbrincku]

We are the people that everyone is doubting. I just want to say that you are not living this nightmare. We did not ask for this mess. It has destroyed our credit & our lives. If you think for one minute we did this for the money you are sadly mistaken. We asked them to do the right thing & fix our problem so we could go on with our lives but they have refused.
The first thing we did when we found out we thought we had the problem was to contact the Florida Department of Health. The state toxicologist came to our home in Jan. & confirmed that we have defective drywall. We have been told that we have the worst case in the state.

[BradAB]

I have to chime in on this. I work at a laboratory, AssuredBio, that does Chinese drywall testing. All our testing is done in good faith and results are NEVER manipulated. I am sure there are people out there that can be manipulated, but to think the entire industry is corrupt isn't correct. We pride ourselves on offering a service that is legitimate and valuable and I am sure there are other laboratories that are the same.

Brad
AssuredBio

[mathprof541]

Allow me to make my uninformed response to all of the uninformed comments posted:

Chinese drywall = made in China... lots of reported problems.
Domestic drywall = made in USA... no reported problems.

Seems to me like the people in this article and their lawyers are chasing the money.

[mgunn89512]

This is way too simplistic. Assuming drywall is the problem... And unfairly lumping manufacturers by country (some could be good and some not WITHIN each country)... there are several variations: most obviously, domestic drywall company or sellers importing or making drywall in china. Indeed, some of the highest quality stuff in general is foreign companies making stuff over there: think iPhones and in my field Leica optical goods.

[mrs_entity]

See liberals? They had independant tests to show the drywall is good. The drywall must have went bad when you were cooking your meth!

[johnb8888]

Under the "deregulation" of the Raygunites and the Bushits, American companies became much more like Chinese swindlers.

Because they could.

[zippiez]

What do we know about ANY company's management?
We know it will lie, cheat, steal, accuse anyone else, admit it is the customer's fault or the fault of those nasty employees, say anything to avoid the issue.

Sounds a lot like most politicians.

No wonder America is heading down the tubes. With "leaders" like ours who needs enemies.