Lots of questions lately about Chinese Drywall.
HUD and the US Consumer Product Safety Commission recently did a study on defective drywall and came up with some guidelines. First, they have lots of disclaimers, about drywall made in China. The disclaimers basically say that while the problems (we'll get to them next) are more prevalent in Chinese Drywall installed between 2001 and 2008, there is no guarantee that all Chinese Drywall is bad. Just know that this stuff can be really dangerous and you need to be careful whenever you think it is present. Fumes have been known to give people bad headaches and the molds and fumes from defective drywall can be harmful to your health, especially if you breathe it in. In really bad situations the professionals will start with and never take off their respirators. I've actually been warned by the professional mitigators not to go in or let anybody into a house until they fix it.
The government basically set up prerequisites and guidelines to check if there is defective drywall. They feel that in order to get worried you need to see 2-4 of these prerequisites. Most common way of checking for bad drywall is too look at the copper on the air conditioner/furnace. If the drywall was installed between 2001 and 2008 and if there is a black corrosion on the copper (copper sulfate) chances are you might have bad drywall. Other factors, though, can cause this corrosion. You can also pop off some outlet covers and check the wiring. If there is corrosion, get someone to check for bad drywall. Other indicators are markings indicating the drywall was made in China, and several tests that in most cases you need a professional to conduct.
If you have bad drywall it can be very expensive to fix. Figure anywhere between $30 and $45 per square foot to mitigate for a normal/non custom built house. The contractor literally will pull the furnace, carpet, drywall, all the trim, and maybe the cabinets. The ceilings will probably have to come out and the house is often taken to a skeleton, sanitized and then rebuilt. So, if you are looking at buying a home and you think it has bad drywall in it, have it checked and make sure that your offer makes fiscal sense. Unfortunately, a lot of the bad drywall went to the big builders. So, a lot of houses can have this stuff. Don't get scared about buying a house because of this problem, just be aware and informed.
If you have more questions, especially in SW Florida, where I am located, just send me an email or give me a call. I've had several run ins with this stuff and should be able to help you out.
