Chinese drywall forces family out of home

Christina Bosse knows what its like to lose everything she and her family have ever invested in. The Gulf Breeze resident who just had her first child lost her home, not to a fire, but something that lies underneath a coat of white paint inside her home.

That small inconvenience is Chinese drywall.  Bosse lives in the only reported home in south Santa Rosa County that was constructed with the poisonous drywall.  The drywall, manufactured by Taishan Gypsum Co. Ltd. has destroyed thousands of dollars worth of appliances and put her family’s health at risk, forcing the couple and their child, who has a heart condition, to move out and into a family member’s house.

Removing the poisonous walls would mean gutting the entire house, whish was built by Mitchell Homes, while making payments on the mortgage, something the family cannot afford.

Chinese drywall is a defective or tainted drywall imported from China between 2001 and 2007 that has been found to emit sulfur gases that have been known to create noxious odors and can corrode copper and other metal surfaces.   Chinese drywall can also cause adverse health effects, although many experts disagree whether these effects are merely irritants or pose as a serious health risk.

Bosse said she and her husband, Dave, started expecting something was wrong at their house located on Brightwater Drive when she had to keep replacing her air conditioning unit.

“I lost my air conditioning four times, and heater, washer, dryer, television, surround sound system, you name it,” Bosse said. “I suspected our home was infested with it about a year after we moved in, but we didn’t’ find out until two years later.”

When the couple’s air conditioning unit kept failing, the air conditioning repairman suggested further inspection.  

“He saw the corroded wiring, and that’s a normal occurrence when you have that in your house,” Bosse said. “We got a lawyer, and he sent out an inspector.”

Bosse said she is on the verge of losing her home to the poisonous substance, as she feels that bankruptcy is her only way out.

Bosse said she might be forced to file for bankruptcy to overcome the debt her home has put her in after she was forced to move out when she had her first child back on Dec. 31, 2010. Bosse’s lawyer has been handling a number of cases involving Chinese drywall, but the Multi District Litigation cases have yet to be negotiated.

The homeowner hired an attorney who handles other Chinese drywall cases to negotiate with the drywall company Taishan Gypsum, whose poisonous drywall lines her home.  The lawyer started a lawsuit for Bosse in 2010, but so far, the cases have been at a standstill, despite the nearly $2 million and more in damages the company’s drywall has caused across the United States alone.

“We can file for bankruptcy or foreclose on our home…the only other option is to wait for the lawsuit papers to come through.  But we don’t know when that will happen,” Bosse said.

Insurance policies do not provide coverage to victims of Chinese drywall for damage to their home or personal property or for temporary living expenses because Chinese drywall is a faulty material and, therefore, excluded under homeowners' insurance policies according to chinesedrywall.com.

 “Every time I turned around, I had to replace something,” Bosse said.

The drywall not only poses as a potential health risk, but contains a low level of arcing that has been known to spark electrical fires in several homes. 

Not only have the replacements cost her and her husband thousand of dollars, but Dave lost his job after he went on leave while Christina was having her child back in December, putting the couple in a bigger bind. 

Still unemployed, Dave is currently doing remodeling work on both Christina and his own parent’s homes to make ends meet, and to help pay off the nearly $200,000 the couple owns on their rotting home.

The couple moved out of their old 1,600 square foot, three bedroom two and a half bath home back on Dec. 28, right before Christina had her baby Makayla.  They are currently staying in a 1,200 square foot rental home Dave’s parents own for free until they can figure out what to do with the asset.  The Bosses, who still have items over at their old home on Brightwater Drive, do not have the space to move all of their belongings into their new home.

“You walk in, and you immediately smell rotten eggs,” Christina said about the smell of the Chinese drywall.

Bosse said she moved out after learning the drywall could alter bone growth in young children and ultimately be deemed a health risk to her child who has heart problems.

The Bosse’s pay approximately $1,280 a month for their home that is currently vacant. Because of the health risks, the homeowners cannot rent the home out or sell it. The only option they have is to tear it down and start a new life.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen right now.  We just can’t stay there,” Christina said.