This is so important that I don’t want to miss anything, so I encourage all owners of homes built between 2001 – 2008 to visit the Drywall Information Center, a federal inter-agency web site, to learn about problems associated with Chinese drywall. (Owners of older homes which have been renovated or remodeled during that time should also visit.) That site is a collaborative public information resource from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This is a big deal. Enough of one that HUD and CPSC felt motivated to issue a press release on Good Friday (April 2) when most people are taking off and, more tellingly, before all the scientific studies have been completed.

CPSC has received over 3,000 reports from residents of 37 states, the District of Columbia, America Samoa and Puerto Rico complaining of health symptoms and/or the corrosion of certain metal components in their homes related to what the government terms “problem drywall”, which all happens to have been manufactured in China. The evidence collected so far points to many of the installations between 2005 and 2008, particularly from repairs following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The CPSC released a preliminary report November 23, 2009 following a detailed contractor study of 51 homes in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Virginia, which has evolved into this “interim remediation protocol” before all the government studies are completed so owners can begin rectifying this problem before it causes even more damage. Tested samples of Chinese drywall manufactured in 2005-06 had emission rates of hydrogen sulfide 100 times greater than non-Chinese samples. The sulfur-emitting drywall erodes metal and requires total removal of the suspect drywall as well as replacement of all manner of wiring and metal from air handling units to safety/fire/carbon monoxide alarms, sprinkler systems and gas service piping.

I want to avoid sensationalizing or exaggerating but this is serious so please visit  the government site for complete details. In some cases, houses will require stripping to the studs.

One final point about housing materials and simple economics, everyone hopes to save a buck but if the price seems too good to be true………