About Contaminated Drywall
If your building was built with drywall manufactured in China, there is a good chance you might have contaminated drywall. Drywall imported from China between 2001 to 2007 are at the highest risk of being contaminated. Contaminated drywall, also known as "Toxic drywall", "Chinese drywall" or "Reactive Drywall", has been reported in over 30 states and it is estimated that it may be installed in over 250,000 U.S. homes.
The tainted drywall contains potentially dangerous chemical additives that can emit gases that could be harmful. Exposure to the compounds is suspected to cause serious health complications, especially for children and the elderly. The toxic elements in the defective drywall can affix themselves to other building materials in the structure. One of the serious side effects of the aforementioned drywall is corrosion of electrical wires. The contaminated drywall can damage wiring inside the walls causing smoke detectors, mechanical systems, appliances, wall outlets and other electrical functions to stop functioning.
What You Can Do
If you suspect that your building was built using contaminated drywall, here is a brief checklist to go through first:
- Was your drywall installed between 2001 and 2007?
- Is there a strong sulfur or rotting egg odor inside?
- Are you having problems with electrical equipment?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions you may want to consider having your property tested for contaminated drywall.
This link shows states that have documented cases of contaminated drywall.
How to Identify Contaminated Drywall
In most cases Contaminated Drywall is detected by its various symptoms – smell, illness and evidence of corrosion throughout the property.
Visually, US Drywall has special markings on the edge tape with writing indicating that it is made in the USA. If there is no writing on the edge tape or it is generic looking with either clear, milky plastic or plain white paper, it may not be US manufactured and likely imported from China. The Chinese drywall is also know to be light grey in color.
However, a visual inspection of the back of your drywall, which requires costly destructive testing and drywall labels are not always correct. The most accurate testing method is using specialized X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) equipment.
How ABB can help
If you believe that your building has been constructed with contaminated Chinese Drywall, click the book an appointment button now.