Chinese Drywall: Insurers dropping Policies on Homes

If you haven't heard there has been a lot of issues with Chineses dry wall. It emits an odor and apparently is even corroding pipes and causing other problems. Just for another kick insurers are denying claims which is understandable to me if the policy doesn't spell out it covers materials but worse they are dropping coverage for these people who if they have a mortgage could lose the house because they need to maintain coverage.

http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/2009 ... +policies+

Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, agreed that homeowners policies were never meant to cover "faulty, inadequate or defective" workmanship, construction or materials.

Tom Zutell, spokesman for the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, said the cancellations are troubling, but legal. No law prevents insurance companies from canceling policies because of Chinese drywall.

"We are staying out of the fray at the moment," he said.

Even if a homeowner does not file a claim over the drywall and remains covered, they could later be denied a claim for a fire or another calamity if insurance investigators determine the home contained undisclosed Chinese drywall.

"If you think that by not telling your insurance company about the drywall that you're protected, you're sadly mistaken," Durkee said.

Interesting question here though, "workmanship, construction". I mean that could be applied to almost any issue that arises with home couldn''t it?

This could be trouble up the road for us.


While the material source of the problem is known, the cause of the problem is unknown. Initially, the most
common theory was that the tainted drywall was manufactured in gypsum mines in China which used fly
ash, a waste material that is a byproduct from power plants using coal. Samples of Chinese drywall tested
by United Engineering, however, consisted of 5-15% organic material, which contradicts the theory that
Chinese drywall was made of waste from coal fired power plants. It is now believed that the tainted
drywall from China comes from mined gypsum, not synthetic gypsum which is made from coal ash. Mined
gypsum contains high levels of strontium, which is visible as inclusions in electron scanning microscopy.

Another theory is that Chinese drywall contains bacteria which is degrading iron and sulfur compounds to
produce sulfur odors. Drywall imported from China was kept on barges at sea for months awaiting
permission to enter the United States. While at sea, the drywall was exposed to seawater. In fact, there
are reports that the drywall was wet (and stunk) when unloaded from the ships. According to many
experts, however, if bacteria is in fact present, it is not significant enough to cause an odor.