Not what new homeowners bargained for
Times are tight and payday loans can help when you’re in a small-time financial jam. Once you get to the point where your finances are in order and your credit rating has been built up high enough to apply for a mortgage loan, it seems like the sky’s the limit.
There are few things more exciting than becoming a homeowner for the first time. The pride, the sense of accomplishment… the toxic drywall.
Dave Burdick of the Huffington Post reports that new homeowners in Florida have noticed very strange smells in their new homes. After inspecting, officials believe that the smell is coming from high sulfur content in drywall that came from China. Now cases have been reported in other states.
What every homeowner should know
According to Burdick, blogs like Treehugger first began to break this troubling story. Now many others know. What follows are highlights from a sample press release that provides some answers about what’s going on here:
- Chinese drywall first entered the U.S. in 2001, through the ports of Long Beach or Oakland, California and Seattle/Tacoma, Washington
- In most cases, air conditioning coil or HVAC failure will accompany the presence of this drywall. Corroded wiring is also common in homes built or remodeled since 2001
- Physical symptoms may include mild to severe upper respiratory problems, nose bleeds, headaches or other serious medical conditions
- This drywall is most typically found in single-family homes in Florida, California, Texas, Nevada, Georgia, the Carolinas, Ohio, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, but can be found in any state with homes, condos or commercial property built or remodeled since 2001
- It is feared – according to the Homeowners Consumer Center - that suspect Chinese drywall was used in reconstruction of homes in the metropolitan area of New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina. People there need more than a loan until payday…
Be a good trade partner, China!
This frightening news comes at the wrong time for America. People are suffering under an oppressive economy, and many cannot afford the remodeling that will be necessary. Payday loans help with small budget surprises, but were not intended to fund full-scale home remodeling, complete with untainted sheet rock. Chalk another one up to cheap manufacturing and a lack of safety controls. China, you’re on my short list…
I suppose there is no way to hold the manufacturers of the drywall accountable. Has there been a recall or is the product still being sold? Isn’t there any quality control for imported products from China? It seems all they send us is junk.
I don’t see how the government can keep encouraging the proliferation of trade with China when we get so many tainted products from them. This is getting out of hand. We have poisoned drywall, milk, pet food, tainted pharmaceutical products, when does it end? When are we going to take our own industry back?
It cannot and will not happen. The federal government is in no position to exercise sovereignty vis-a-vis an entity that owns a critical percentage of its debt. It is no accident that a nation’s internal affairs are only as secure as the finances of its government and the oppressive nations of the world have trade and government surpluses.