When there’s water damage to your Orlando property, the first thing that needs to be done is have a game plan. The document explains how to handle water damage repair including locating the source of the leak. If the leak is not attended to, mold is sure to follow. When the Orlando property owner has been given “notice” of the hazardous condition, the potential for liability increases. The general rule of thumb is “having knowledge of mold” is needed, not just notice of water damage that may lead to mold.

While everyone’s first question is “How many insurance policies are there that might cover water damage to my Orlando property?,” there may not necessarily be coverage at all. There may not even be an “event” under which the policy could trigger the coverage. The damage may be caused by negligence of the Orlando property owner or faulty work by a contractor and not by a sudden event, such as a burst water pipe or a flooded basement. Several insurance policies exist that might be implicated. Each insurance company should be contacted as soon as possible about your water damage, so that there are no issues about late notice.

It is important to fix the leak quickly so as to avoid further water damage and more expense. This may mean paying for a water removal company to extract the water and get reimbursed later. The right attorney can orchestrate all of these matters and sometimes resolve the issue without litigation.

That’s when things start to get serious. Last week at a “Chinese Drywall Litigation Conference” drew 300 attorneys and consultants to Orlando, Florida. One theme that emerged: Affected residents turning to their homeowners insurance policies for help after discovering they are victims of tainted drywall. According to coverage in the Sarasota Herald Tribune, insurers are starting to deny homeowners’ drywall claims based on something called a “pollution exclusion.” It’s designed to shield insurance companies from unexpected environmental hazards and has grown so broad that in some states they can be interpreted to cover almost anything related to chemicals, regardless of the source.

Florida is a poor place for homeowners to argue the “pollution” issue. According to the Herald Tribune, while some courts in other states have restricted the ability to cite “pollution” as a reason to deny coverage, Florida has not:

“In Florida, insurers are able to rely on the courts to support them much more so than in other states.”

Gee, who would have guessed?

So if lawsuits don’t work, there’s always Plan B. In this case, some real estate owners are experimenting with a possible scientific way to neutralize the sulfur-like gas from Chinese drywall without tearing up homes. In Fort Myers, Grosse Pointe Developers and BBL Builders teamed up with Sabre, a company specializing in cleaning contaminated buildings, to fumigate a property using chlorine dioxide.

Did it work? It’s too early to tell but there’s some local coverage (here and a more in-depth Fox video report here) of the initial treatment. We’ll stay tuned.

Drywall—gypsum, plasterboard,wallboard—is basically a gypsum-based plaster layer sandwiched between two sheets of paper. The majority by far of US gypsum comes from mines and quarries.  The  Gypsum Association state that it is a by-product of coal or oil based power plants.

So far, different laboratories have identified the Chinese Drywall contains sulfurous gases hydrogen sulfide, carbon disulfide and carbonyl sulfide.  The emissions seem to intensify in hot and humid environments, which is probably it’s seen most often in Florida and other SouthEastern States.

Why are the gasses being emitted? Nobody knows.  The Chinese Drywall may have come from a sulfur rich mine or that impurities were introduced during the manufacture process; or some sort of chemical treatment during post production.

Results from companies have been contradictory.  Environ International was hired by Lennar, one of Florida’s largest homebuilders, to test “dirty” drywall. Their results show an element of sulfure in Chinese Drywall but not US made.

At the Center for Toxicology & Environmental Health, Phillip Goad, a toxicologist, studied the foul smelling drywall for a manufacturer of drywall, Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin (KPT) and his report found no sulfur elements, but iron disulfide or pyrite.  The US drywall did contain those elements.  KPT thinks the gypsum that was mined contained the iron disulfide and has since stopped using that mine.

Florida’s Department of Health’s drywall analyses, which were done by Unified Engineering, revealed an entirely different anomaly in the Chinese wallboard. Lori A. Streit, an analytical chemist with Unified, found strontium sulfide in the odorous wallboard.

Other published reports conflict with each other saying it was the mine or the post production.  One report identified 35 sulfur-containing odorants.

If that wasn’t enough to worry about, there’s the corrosion of copper piping, wiring and air conditioner coils.  A black powdery substance is found in these houses. Usually this shows reaction with sulfides — either with the Chinese Drywall or gas emitted from the Chinese Drywall.  In either case it’s not good.

There’s been no evidence though that the levels of sulfur gases are dangerous, but people living in the houses have reported of respiratory infections, sinus problems and nosebleeds.

Nobody knows how long it will take to figure out where the rotten egg smell is coming from or the Chinese Drywall removal; but until then, many home owners are footing the cost to have it inspected and ultimately removed by Expert Chinese Drywall Removal Company

• No Air Conditioning running which in turn greatly raised the level of humidity.
• Water seeped into crevices all around the home which in turn allowed the dark areas hidden from light to start growing mold.
• Any existing mold that was present in the home had a food source, being the 2 inches of water throughout the house.

You will notice in the pictures below that heavy mold growth has already developed. This tells us that there was more than likely an active leak in this home at one time. This is especially evident by taking a look at the area of the ceiling that is missing from water and mold damage. We believe that a majority of the water on the floor came from a leaking washer line valve as there was a steady drip present when EnviroPro technicians arrived.

When a water damage occurs, make sure you deal with it immediately and ensure that a reputable company, such as EnviroPro, is on the job. While this home is an example of how bad a water damage can get if not dealt with; minor water damages will never get to this point when handled properly. Keep us in mind the next time your up to your knees in water.