# chinese dry wall question



## damyankee007 (Apr 26, 2009)

i am renting a house that has chinese dry wall. we just had an inspector come out yesterday. he found some drywall that was almost 3/4 inch thick and had blue paper. the inside chaulk was grey. also an other board he found had the word drywall stamped on it. does any one here know who or where i can find out about who makes these two types of boards. thanks


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## damyankee007 (Apr 26, 2009)

heres some pics of dry wall.


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## bjbatlanta (Jul 16, 2008)

It may be 5/8" drywall (there is no 3/4"). The Core of the board (or "chaulk" as you called it) looks like the green board of years ago. It was impregnated with some type of oil or something that gave it a gray or almost brown color. Knauf Tainjin Plasterboard Co. Ltd. is one name that has cropped up. Do a google search...


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## damyankee007 (Apr 26, 2009)

one of the problems is there is no markings that have been found of who the made it. the house was built in 06 and it does have the chinese drywall but thats all i know about it. weve been doing a lot of research and finding out alot of info its basically a learning thing right now, what to look for, what causes this whats doing that, getting sick on top of all that too. been frustrating.thanks for help.


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## bjbatlanta (Jul 16, 2008)

With the house being fairly new, if you can track down the builder, you can likely find out who the drywall contractor was for your house. Find out who the drywall contractor's supplier was for your house, and it may yield some results. May be a long shot, but worth a try.


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## damyankee007 (Apr 26, 2009)

well the builder is beazer homes and they are not giving out any info. they are only saying that they didnt use chinese drywall. but when you look at all the ground wires to the outlets they are black. you look at the a/c coils and they are turning black, refrig. copper lines black, mirrors in corners black, sink fixtures turning black and the inspector that came out said there is a 2% sulfuric acid in air. so they responded to all that as nothing has been proven yet. (cop out). but thanks for that little info. im going to see if there is any paper work in house that might help out. thanks


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## concretemasonry (Oct 10, 2006)

It is entirely true that the uneducated builder or a subcontractor used non-complying drywall and never bothered to look at what it was or check the specifications, which is typical in the rush to throw up a house as fast and cheap as possible. There is also very good drywall in China, but the junk is usually exported by second hand material suppliers/importers that do not know what they are selling or even care. There is some good dry wall made there, but the locals know what is good and leave the rest to the exporters. - That is the problem when switching manufacturers and buying into the exporting chain of events.

There could be fly ash in the gypsum, since the chemicals are needed for the manufacturing process and meeting the product standards, but too much of the wrong kind of ash can be detrimental. Very often, the use of fly ash in cement and concrete is essential to be classified as a "green" and "LEED" qualifying in the U.S. for sound green and ecologically sound construction.

Your only possible remedy is going after the builder and people you rent the house from. The paper trail of the products will be vague since it probably went through many "middlemen" in the meantime that have no requirement to guarantee the meeting of some specification from some other country. If you can prove a link between the local drywall supplier and a large supplier/manufacturer, you could show some implied guarantee. If it is not labeled it would be classified as an unknown manufactured product. Very often, the number on the back of a sheet can be decoded since most materials like drywall are made in automated plants and not by the imaginary "Chinese rickshaw driver" that does not exist.

the guys that ran the bad milk factory in china were sentenced to death shortly (little time for appeals there) after the problem was discovered.

Dick


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## jerryh3 (Dec 10, 2007)

Is the paper purple? From the picture, it looks like Gold Bond XP drywall.


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## advcomputer (Jul 29, 2009)

*Chinese Drywall*

A new site has just been put up called Chinese Drywall Answers.

Link removed 

There seem to be many lawsuits going on regarding this product. Besides just the "stink" of the product, there are now some real concerns about possible health issues as well. 

I guess it makes sense, if it can ruin the copper on an air conditioner, then imagine what can happen when it's in your lungs. There also has been some rumor that it may be radio-active due to the high gypsum amount, however I don;t know if that has ever been proven.

Whatever the outcome it is not good for the persons in chinese drywall homes.

-Jeff


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## Bob Mariani (Dec 1, 2008)

To make this all worse. Today a news article was published explaining that the trend is for insurance companies to not honor claims from the damage caused by Chinese drywall. And they also will cancel and not renew your policy. Now the mortgage company may recall the loan since insurance is required and you can no longer get insured.


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## Daniel Holzman (Mar 10, 2009)

I am not sure what the question was in this thread. The OPS claimed that he was living in a house with Chinese drywall, based on a "test" that was administered by an inspector. For information on testing of "Chinese drywall", you can go to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) website that discusses at length the origin and testing of suspect drywall www.*cpsc*.gov/info/*drywall*

Based on my reading, there does not seem to be a definitive test that will identify corrosive drywall originating in China. The CPSC has not officially determined what chemicals are causing the problems, although sulfur compounds have been linked to the production of sulfuric acid within the drywall. Note that ordinary gypsum is made from calcium sulfate, a sulfur compound, so simply because there is sulfur in drywall does not mean there is going to be a problem.

As for radioactive drywall, that was an issue with drywall manufactured in Florida some years ago. There are large deposits of phosphogypsum in Florida, very good for making drywall, unfortunately the Florida phosphogypsum is radioactive, in particular the Florida drywall had high concentrations of radon 226. I understand that the Florida plants shut down due to the radioactivity problem, however the CPSC tested the Chinese drywall and found no evidence of elevated radioactivity in any of the samples they tested (see their website).


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## Thurman (Feb 9, 2009)

This is the only way I know to state this: I know a developer in a large city, who has had work done by "Beazer Homes", I know a Licensed General Contractor who has built homes in this developers subdivisions under contract with Beazer Homes. Among all the other problems that Beazer Homes is having at this time, using _suspected_ Chinese drywall which has the chemicals within, is one of them. To my knowledge at this time, Beazer Homes has not made any official announcement to the fact that they have ever used this _suspected_ Chinese drywall, which is reported to have problems. I would not admit it up front either if I had used it, UNTIL I had my facts straight. Beazer Homes does not appear to be the problem with this drywall, it is the material itself. Tracing down the home builder, the material supplier, and having proof that you have the _suspected_ drywall may be your only way to get your answer. Daniel Holzman's link is one of the best one's out, at this time, on this matter. Good Luck, David


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## Phillysun (Jun 19, 2008)

The Chinese drywall in question has sulfur, strontium, and iron in abnormally high levels which is believed to be what is causing the problems with the health of people living in the affected houses and apartments. Easy enough to send a small 1" section off to a lab for testing. If it shows high levels of sulfur it is is contaminated your best option is to move before you or your children start experiencing health problems. People who own their homes are faced with the choice of paying 10-20 thousand dollars to have the drywall removed and replaced or losing their homes. 

There are areas like Florida and New Orleans where the installation of the Chinese drywall was prevalent and where the likelihood of having a problem house are much higher than for other parts of the country. There are problems with substandard Chinese pipe for gas and soil pipe also in evidence and a lot of builders used these products believing them to be cheaper but safe. Unfortunately there are no government testing programs or standards for most building materials or tools and no version of the so it is very much a buyer beware situation.


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## Michael Thomas (Jan 27, 2008)

The Chinease drywall I've seen discussed on the Home Inspections boards is marked "KNAUF-TIANJI" on the rear.


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## concretemasonry (Oct 10, 2006)

Phillysun -

You are correct about they buyer beware aspect.

All too often, things are bought based on price without any regard to standards or quality and the person ultimately living in the residence is stuck with it because they did not care either. The U.S. standards and testing are woefully weak, but the knowledge and interest shown by distributors, retailers, and contractors is even worse.

The problem lies with the importer, distributor and retailer for only being driven by low costs and quick availability. After the 2005 hurricanes (Katrina, Rita and Wilma), the importers of cheap Chinese drywall (and other products) were able to get the products quicker to the market than the American suppliers because everyone (especially contractors) was interested in availability and being able to supply drywall.

I think the correct name of the manufacturer is "Knauf Tianjin" (possible Herman or at least a German name). Tianjin is a major area with a population in the area well more than most U.S. cities.

There is very good drywall in China, but the junk probably goes to the price availability, sensitive markets through importers because they can respond quickly and the and be cheap for the products that may not be able to be sold in China. Walmart ships from China on mega-freighters that are too big for any canal and can cut 4 days off delivery times with only a crew of 13 people (plus cooks and maintenance). - the world is shrinking and few people appreciate the perspective. I had several trips to China before I even saw a "rick-shaw", but I quickly recognized the Mercedes and BMWs out-sold Buicks, but Buick supposedly sell more cars in China than the U.S.

China is a vast country with most population centered in cities along the coast and along rivers. TRaffis to bad because of the number of big cars in old cities. One example is when i went to Kun Ming (about 5,000,000 people and about 19th largest in China and called the "Spring City" and home bases of the "Flying Tigers"), where the housing complexes were about 2-4 blocks by 4 blocks with playgrounds separated from the 7 to 20 story buildings by community areas, recreation centers and swimming pools.

Very little construction in China is drywall and wood frame because the government finally has discovered it is not ecologically sound for them. There is still drywall used in the many 20-60 story commercial buildings since the walls will eventually be changed.

It is just a matter of cost and availability and no regard for specifications in the U.S. If you allow people to dump on you and are not competitive, they just get the junk.


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## bjbatlanta (Jul 16, 2008)

I don't think it was a matter of "builders used these products believing them to be cheaper but safe", but a matter of "supply and demand". After all of the "natural disasters" such as hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, etc. the gypsum industry could not keep up with the demand. New plants were in the construction phase and coming "on-line" , but not fast enough to meet the demand for drywall. The natural answer was to import. Everything else comes from China......


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