Repeatedly-Failing Air Conditioner Marks Beginning Of Journey On Rocky Road For One Florida Family

In Manatee County, Florida, the Bradenton Herald reports on the problems faced by local couple Joe and Brittany Baker after a May 2009 repair visit by a service technician mentioned that Chinese drywall might be the culprit for the repeated air conditioner problems in their recently-constructed home. The suspicion was reportedly confirmed a few days later by a home inspector.

• That was enough to convince Brittany Baker, eight months’ pregnant at the time, to move in with her in-laws while Joe Baker was undergoing U.S. Army training in Colorado. The stress would only escalate, Brittany Baker said.

• At first, she worried the drywall would affect her unborn baby’s health. “Luckily she’s healthy,” Brittany Baker said.

• There was the struggle to get the builder, deMorgan Communities, to admit it has used Chinese drywall in the Bakers’ house — followed by its contention that it, too, was a victim and couldn’t do anything for the Bakers.

• There were the break-ins — at least five, by Brittany Baker’s count — at the unoccupied house, with thieves taking everything from leftover food to camping gear. A neighbor who interrupted one burglary found the thieves had left behind suitcases full of items, including an urn containing her father’s ashes. "That was the biggest stress, the house being broken into over and over,” she said.

• Then there were the financial worries. The Bakers wondered if they could continue to keep paying the mortgage on a home they no longer felt safe to live in and, if they couldn’t, whether it would jeopardize Joe Baker’s security clearance and assignment to MacDill Air Force Base. After making arrangements with the Army, the Bakers stopped paying the mortgage and moved into the rental house last month. “We really can’t afford to rent a house and pay the bills and pay a mortgage on top of it, but we have to, to make sure our daughter is safe,” Brittany Baker said.

• Like many others, the Bakers hope to get some relief through the courts. They are among more than 2,100 homeowners who are suing Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co. Ltd, a Chinese drywall manufacturer, and more than 600 homebuilders, suppliers, distributors and installers in the massive federal class-action lawsuit. More than 30 Manatee homeowners are among the plaintiffs, and deMorgan is among the defendants. The case is expected to go to trial in March as part of a series of bellwether cases designed to narrow legal issues such as liability.

For the story, see Drywall keeps owners in limbo.