Rotting drywall fouling South Florida houses

Joining the wave of toys painted with lead-based paint and the tainted infant formula, drywall from China is now raising a concern.

Florida officials are looking into a smattering of complaints from homeowners in South and Southwest Florida who say their walls stink and that some electrical and plumbing components are failing.

Drywall is the board used to make interior walls. Usually, it is manufactured in the United States, but a housing boom between 2004 and 2006 and a need for construction materials after Hurricane Katrina prompted builders to buy from China.

The Florida Department of Health has received 16 complaints from Pinellas, Manatee, Martin, St. Lucie and Lee counties, and is looking into the matter, officials said.

The wallboard is being blamed for corrosion of metal components. Air-conditioning evaporator coils, which typically last a decade or more, are corroding and failing in homes only a couple of years old. Pipes and wiring also may be deteriorating.

The chemicals in the suspect drywall are measured at tiny levels, requiring sophisticated equipment available in only a few labs nationwide. The state plans more testing in coming weeks.

Mike Foreman, a Sarasota construction consultant who has been investigating the drywall issue, says the damage to houses is considerable and will be expensive to fix.

"What's really the concern is what the long-term effects are on piping, wiring, everything that has been exposed," Foreman said. "Now you're talking about starting to have failures."

Miami-based Lennar Corp. conducted an investigation after homebuyers complained about smells and coil corrosion. Lennar hired an environmental consulting firm and found that independent contractors installed the product without Lennar's knowledge.

In a written statement, Darrin McMurray, Lennar's Southwest Division president, said the Chinese product was used in a small percentage of homes built from November 2005 to November 2006.

The company has begun removing the drywall and conducting other repairs in some of the homes.