Chinese-made drywall causing home and health hazards

March 20, 2009 by Walter Schneider.

Consumer Reports

March 19, 2009

Chinese-made drywall causing home and health hazards

A gut-turning smell like rotten eggs hit Richard and Partricia Kampf the day they first walked into their new house in Cape Coral, Florida, in July 2007. At first they thought it was some kind of “new home” smell that would go away quickly. Patricia bought some scented candles to help cover the odor.

But the smell didn’t go away and other strange things started happening. The metal coil on the central air conditioner turned black and then became so badly corroded it had to be replaced after just a few months. The mirrors in the bathrooms turned black. The Kampfs had to replace the motherboard on their computer three times and their son’s Xbox stopped working—after two repairs they bought a new one….(Full Story)

See also: Comment by folc.ca at  Chinese drywall in Florida may be causing health problems, re: radioactivity of phosphogypsum.

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Update 2010 09 07: The US Consumer Products Safety Commission has set up a Drywall Information Center that offers a large variety of information regarding the issue of the drywall problem, tests and remedial action.

In short, the problem exists, it is large and requires at times expensive remediation.  However, one of the most important pieces of advice regarding the drywall issue is contained in a Consumer Alert by the US Federal Trade Commission: Defective Imported Drywall: Don’t Get Nailed by Bogus Tests and Treatments, to which the CPSC Drywall Information Center established a prominent link on its home page.

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