Wed 2009-09-16 19:21 EDT

Corrosive, stinking Chinese drywall may be radioactive - Los Angeles Times

The final years of the U.S. housing boom and a disastrous series of Gulf Coast hurricanes created a golden opportunity for Chinese drywall manufacturers. With domestic suppliers unable to keep up with demand, imports of Chinese drywall to the U.S. jumped 17-fold in 2006 from the year before. That imported drywall is now at the center of complaints of foul odors seeping from walls. Hundreds of homeowners, most in Florida, have also reported corrosion to their air conditioners, mirrors, electrical outlets and even jewelry. State and federal authorities have traced the problems to Chinese-made drywall but haven't yet fully determined the causes. Some Chinese experts, however, suspect that the culprit is a radioactive phosphorus substance -- phosphogypsum -- that is banned for construction use in the U.S. but has been used by Chinese manufacturers for almost a decade.(china, building materials, defective products, health hazards)

corrosive; Los Angeles Times; Radioactive; stinking Chinese drywall.

Bruce Krasting Tue 2009-09-08 12:06 EDT

Wallboard - China Inc.+$25mm, USA $-3.2b

Bruce Krasting

The Wall Street Journal had an interesting piece Tuesday on defective wallboard that had been imported from China . The LA Times had a more detailed discussion of this problem on July 4th. This article makes a case that the wall material may contain radioactive material. It provides the names of some of the companies involved. The problematic wallboard was sent to the US in 2006. These imports totaled $25 million. The WSJ estimates that the cost of repairing a home that has this material is $100,000. The LAT piece puts the number of homes involved at 32,000. Put those two numbers together. There are $3.2billion of losses relating to $25mm of wallboard.

25MM; 2B; 3; Bruce Krasting; China Inc; USA; wallboard.