Homeowners still recovering from effects of Chinese drywall

The sulfur odor in Megan McGarity's home in Shelby County was so strong that she said her whole house was toxic.

But last August Knauf agreed to a pilot program to test her home and a few others in hopes of learning just how severe the Chinese drywall had infiltrated.

"To know your home is tainted with Chinese drywall, it definitely changes things," McGarity said.

McGarity and others across Alabama hired attorney Eric Hoagland to go after Knauf. And just this week, a federal judge approved a class-action settlement that will payback homeowners affected by the defective drywall.

"A homeowner will now have three options, if they filed by December the 9th…one is have a contractor fix your home which Knauf pays for and controls which is what we were doing in the pilot program," Hoagland said.

Hoagland says the other options allow homeowners to hire their own contractor and hope building costs don't exceed their estimates. And the last option is to take a cash payout, which Hoagland says would require homeowners to disclose the house has Chinese drywall.

Jim Bunn bought a home in Ross Bridge for his elderly mother, but she had to move out of it nine months ago. Now he hopes to move her back in within a year.

"It's great, there was so much uncertainty. Would Knauf accept the responsibility, they didn't do it maliciously, and they did and it's pretty exciting, the house, the value of the house, you can't sell it, it's worthless," Bunn said.

Hoagland knows it could be roughly a year before all the homes are fixed but this settlement is a start.

"But just the mere fact that we're moving the process that we're at the point where homeowners can see the light at the end of the tunnel, most homeowners are ecstatic," Hoagland said.