Performing the Chinese Drywall Test
As everyone should know by now, over the last several years a lot of bad drywall was imported into the USA from China. This stuff has turned out to be utter junk, causing people’s houses to smell like sulfur and even sending some to the hospital with headaches and shortness of breathing.
If you are suspicious that you may have gotten some of this raw deal, then you can perform the Chinese drywall test. There are different ways of testing, and while they may not all be rock-solid, they will definitely tend to give a better idea if your house is affected by the rot.
First of all, use your nose. Smell your drywall; that’s right. Try to get behind it and see if it smells like eggs. Of course, this is only the first, most basic step. It is not conclusive but in either direction but the first thing most people notice is a strange and unpleasant odor emanating from their walls.
If you look on the back of your drywall and see the manufacturer’s name “Knauf”, then you may have cause to be worried. Not all the drywall that Knauf produced is defective, but they are one of the main offenders, if not the only offender. They’re a Chinese company. But we have to look further into our Chinese drywall test in order to have some more obvious connections.
Testers are looking for the following elements: CS2, COS, dimethyl disulfide, and iron disulfide. They claim that these chemicals are non-existent in “good” drywall, but that previous tests have shown these four chemicals to be present in the bad Chinese drywall that was imported into the US between 2004 – 2006.
There are also some companies who are selling Chinese drywall test kits. These companies include Inspectors Inc. who is selling a kit through the Internet and who seems to be pretty knowledgeable about what they’re talking about concerning the problem.
The most common method of testing is called the documentation method. This involves photographing the copper and metal elements in the home. The bad drywall will over time corrode these things by releasing gases into the air. Now, this is merely a visual test, so I think what it really does is to determine a probability that the drywall is bad; not necessarily a conclusive test. If you can get in touch with someone who’s more of an expert in this field then he would be able to glean a lot more insight from a mere photograph.
There are also detection methods which can be used. These will give more solid results, because they rely on actual gas-sensing tools and chemical analysis. These tests will obviously cost more, but at a certain point could make sense. The Chinese drywall problem is not one that can just be ignored.
Filed Under Chinese Drywall Problems, Chinese Drywall Solutions, Health and Safety Issues |
Tagged With chinese drywall test, chinese drywall test kit, do i have chinese drywall, how to determine chinese drywall, knauf chinese drywall, smell your drywall
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