Chinese Drywall Problems
July 9, 2009
Drywall imported from China has been blamed for fast metal corrosion, the odor of rotten eggs, and even health problems for new homeowners. The drywall imported from China contains sulfur along with other materials that are not in drywall made in the United Sates found in federal preliminary tests.
The drywall was used in 100,000 homes nationwide as reported by United States Senator Bill Nelson. Many of his constituents complained about the problems found with the drywall in their homes, thus the senator went to work to learn more.
36,000 homes in Florida alone were constructed with Chinese drywall along with several homes spread out across the United States in states such as Louisiana and Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi and California. Recently the drywall was discovered to be different than drywall created in the United States.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission began looking into complaints and with preliminary research from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found the drywall to contain sulfur. Sulfur is not used in the production of drywall in the United States but is used around the world to make such products as matches, black gunpowder, fungicides, and insecticides.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tests showed strontium in the Chinese drywall as well. Strontium is a metallic element that is extremely reactive chemically which if in a fine powdered state can spontaneous ignition at room temperature. The levels of Strontium found in the Chinese drywall was at levels 10 times higher than drywall produced in the United States.
Other organic compounds found by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that are usually found in acrylic paint include propanoic acid, 2-methyl-, 2,2-dimethyl-1-(2-hydroxy-1-methylethyl) propyl ester • propanoic acid, 2-methyl-, and 3-hydroxy-2,4,4-trimethylpentyl ester.
The tests were only used to find the differences between the Chinese drywall and drywall produced in the United States after homeowners complained of unusual odors, corroding wiring, metal, jewelry and mirrors, and respiratory health problems.
More testing will be done to learn if the Chinese drywall could be the root problem found in the complaints of homeowners across the United States.
