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Britt Combs: Could you have toxic drywall in your home?

Here's how to find out

By Britt Combs | The McDowell News

Published: May 26, 2009

This is an age of belt tightening. Many are out of work, but even more of us have seen pay cuts and cut hours at work negatively impacting our earnings, not to mention the losses some have seen in their retirement savings.

For many, this means delaying or even cancelling anticipated home improvements and maintenance. What can be even more alarming is if you did a project during the housing boom and now it needs attention. Many are in a panic, having heard the news that hundreds of tons of drywall installed in the past few years may be toxic.

A sharp rise in Chinese drywall imports came on the heels of Hurricane Katrina and the wave of building we now know as the last gasp of the housing bubble. Initial reports said most of the material went to Florida, but some sources indicate the contaminated drywall has been found in many states, and most of the southeast.

The problem stems from sulfur compounds in the gypsum. It is suspected the sulfur comes from coal ash the Chinese mixed in with the gypsum to get rid of it, although that is only speculation, and is of little concern to those who have the drywall in their homes.

The vapors released from the drywall has a strong smell of sulfur, some homeowners say, comparing it to rotten eggs. There has been expensive damage due to the sulfur gas's corrosive effects to copper. Air conditioner and heat pump coils have been ruined by the gas, an expensive prospect indeed. Even worse, the gas has been said to corrode wiring, which could lead to a dangerous deterioration of your home's electrical system. It will also damage copper pipes and can cause a leak.

There are quite a few steps you can do yourself to determine how at-risk you are. It is possible to know you are safe or to confirm that your home is at risk from the contaminated material without spending a lot of money.

When was your project done? While early reports implicated drywall imported in 2004 and 2005, Chinese drywall from 2001 to as late as 2007 is suspect, according to Nashville, Tenn.-based home inspector Scott Patterson. If your project, either construction or improvement, is from that era, you'll want to find out where your wall boards came from.

Assuming your project included both ceiling and walls, the first step will be a trip to the attic. Peel back some of the insulation and examine the exposed back of the ceiling drywall. There will be, in most cases, a printed row of repeating information every four feet or so, stating the manufacturer, a date and a lot number. Jot it down.

You're not in the clear yet, however. Your ceiling board might be 12-foot, 5/8- inch-thick board where the walls will probably have ½-inch material. Even if bought from the same supplier on the same day, it may well be from a different manufacturer. You need to inspect your wallboards too.

I don't recommend cutting a small section, as you probably won't find the label in the first attempt, and small holes are harder to fix than a big one. In my own home, the project involved a wall that is against a closet. That gave me an unobtrusive place to do my search. The point is to get "inside" an interior wall, preferably one that is not insulated. A wall that contains no wiring or plumbing will make things much easier. Plumbing is set deep, and you needn't worry about cutting pipes with your utility knife, but cutting out for outlets when you replace the board is a headache you can hopefully avoid.

Remove the baseboard along the wall you've chosen. Using a straight edge, you can find the high spots that indicate a joint between boards. There will be a slight mound built up, probably at least a foot wide and very subtle, but the straight edge will reveal it.

With the baseboard removed, the vertical joints are usually very easy to find at the base of the wall. Now use a utility knife to cut the joints I've got lots of scars from utility knife cuts, so be careful. Cut away from yourself. Once the blade is between two boards, their edges will tend to guide your knife straight. Hint: A board of drywall is 48 inches wide, so the horizontal joint will usually be 49- or 50 inches off the floor. With the entire board removed, you'll see the printing on the back of the opposite wall. If it reads "Knauf-Tianjin," you may have a serious problem.

As of now, there is no certainty which, or how many, brands may be involved. The Consumer Products Safety Commission has stated they are trying to answer that question conclusively, but have not set a target date for releasing that information. The main thing is to find out if it comes from Tianjin, China.

If your home has gone through air conditioner coils, has seen a lot of inexplicable problems with copper plumbing or electrical problems, or if you smell sulfur since the job was completed, you could have a problem. You might want to contact a lawyer, the CPSC, or a qualified home inspector. There are a number of class action suits already launched, so it might actually be your ticket to easy street.

Next week, we'll discuss replacing the wallboard you removed to make your inspection. Don't let drywall intimidate you. It's cheap, easy and fun and, with a little preparation, not terribly messy.

Reporter Britt Combs has hung thousands of boards of drywall in his time. He writes a weekly column for The McDowell News.