Chinese Drywall Inspection

Has anyone been doing chinese drywall inspections? We are starting to get more and more calls for it. Does anyone have a form the use?

Preston, email me and I will send you what I use.

Bert

Here is what I use:

Sample Chinese Drywall Report

Eric,

Can I use parts of your Inspection Document? Mine is much more basic, and can use some tweaking.

Please let me know…

Absolutely. What do you need?

Eric, a lot of those photos showed very little corrosion to the copper grounds in the panels. Those few properties I have seen in the past with this problem had drastically greater and more obvious blackening of the copper. What has been your experience?

I thought the drywall had to have the name “Tianjin” on it. That was where the tainted drywall was manufactured.

Eric, I can just cut and paste some of the paragraphs that I don’t have in mine. Just wanted your permission before I used them.

Thanks!!

As stated in the report, the copper was not affected from the drywall, which is why there was no estimate for replacement of the wiring. I also pulled a few receptacles to check those.

In other instances, where I consulted for a Realtor, they were a lot worse, almost like a fire was there.

Eric, anything you need, just help yourself or send me an e mail.

Bill, judging by discoloration on the coils, and the pictures don’t do it justice, it would appear that your assumption was incorrect!:slight_smile:

I have heard of incidents where American made drywall has been contaminated. That should be fun!

Yes, I read where some American drywall was made IN china. Labeled American, and shipped over.

http://www.nachi.tv/environmental/inspecting-chinese-drywall.htm

Also, come to www.nachi.org/florida.htm on Friday.

Eric, could that be a result of (the lack of corrosion) only a partial installation of the drywall (your opinion) or possibly environmental factors that caused only a minor reaction with the drywall? (humidity,temperature etc. being controlled and only allowing the partial release of the reactant chemicals)

Experience will dictacte what form you should use. Exposure to the problem will tell you exactly what you need to know.

That thought did occur to me, which is why I pulled the receptacle from the same bathroom where the wall was damaged and the drywall was exposed.
The house was vacant so I don’t think there was any humidity or temperature control present.

The real issue is that now, once the drywall is detected, even if it was in one area, you are now going to have to tear the place apart if you want to sell the place.

That unit was a townhouse and was selling for $25K…at least until the bidding war started. There are some individuals, I have heard, that bid up the price on these places, repair the “visible” drywall and clean or replace, if necessary the areas affected, then flip the property.
Only in Florida!

Where was that. Always nice to know what neighborhoods have it. I just heard that Cobblestone in PP has it.

TUSCANY in Miramar. Apparently, several units had it there.

I can send you our field inspection form. Let me know where to email it or fill out contact form on our website: www.chinesedrywallscreening.com.

There are many types of corrosive drywall, Knauf-Tianjin is the most public due to their name being prevelent on board and their settlement negotiations. They are participating in remediation and negotiaing settlements with builders. Other manufacturers are not. Taishan is next biggest provider and only has size or generic markings, Dragon is not always bad/corrosive/reactive. BNBM is almost always non-corrosive.
MDL list of drywall types:
http://www.laed.uscourts.gov/Drywall/DrywallMarkings.htm

We have seen 7 types of drywall in one 2,000 sf town house - 4 domestic and 3 chinese.

Most homes with cdw are blended with domestic to some degree so can’t spot check recepts.

I have some cases with corrosive, domestic drywall low in strontium.

I sulfur water can look similar to cdw so be careful not to wreck transaction…

CPSC and HUD Issues an Updated Remediation Protocol for Homes with Problem Drywall

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml11/11176.html

Included is an updated visual inspection guide.

Identification Method

The identification process will require two steps:
(1) an initial or threshold inspection to find visual signs of metal corrosion and evidence of drywall installation in the relevant time period, and
(2) the identification of corroborating evidence or characteristics.

Our training video course teaches home inspectors visual inspection techniques to do both.
Watch this short video preview of the training video course

could you send a copy of that report form to me as well … thank you