Any risk of still getting this stuff?
How to avoid it?

Not really. It was shipped over from 2005 through 2007 during the housing boom when US manufacturers couldn't keep up with demand.

The major player was owned by Knauf, a German Company. They are having to pay dearly as they can be sued in the US courts via the Hauge Convention (treaty).

There were a few chinese manufacturers that were doing similar stuff as Knauf, but cannot be sued.

As long as you have MADE IN USA on the boards, you're good.

How do I know about Chinese Drywall and Knauf? I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count.

There is a house down the street from my inlaws that just got their money from their lawsuit. They are ripping out all the drywall to be replaced. I guess, due to the stuff affecting copper and such that they are also having to replace a lot of the electrical wiring and plumbing because they used copper pipe instead of pvc. One guy in their neighberhood has had something like 6 air conditioner units replaced in the last 5-7 years or so.

Thanks
Got a job coming up.

We are involved in the Chinese Drywall (CDW) litigation. It is more widespread than anyone really knows unless you are on the inside.

Drywall that was tainted started coming into the USA as early as 2003 because of the housing boom and a shortage of gypsum in the USA to keep up with the demand. Well factor in hurricanes Ivan, Katrina, Rita, and others and there is a large % of CDW in the USA all over, not just the south. The mass inflow though was post Katrina until about 2007 and early 2008.

Knauf shipped in a huge amount of drywall that ended up being tainted. Direct sources from Chinese government owned and operated gypsum mines and drywall manufacturing plants came in to ports all over the USA, but a huge chunk was from Texas all the way around to Virginia.

There has been Chinese manufactured drywall in the USA for a couple decades without any off gassing issues. Quality wise it was not up to the same standards (even with their stamp saying it was per ANSI specs). Then comes some toxic raw material with unstable sulfur compounds into the manf. process prior to Hurricane Katrina. The QA process if it even existed did not catch the issues or did not care to report the issue to Knauf or others buying the product form China. So it got sold unknowingly in the US market. However, there is a papertrail of info and knowledge at Knauf that said otherwise and there is also evidence showing that some Knauf boards were restamped to show made in USA when they were not. So not all "Made in USA" by Knauf was legit. That is actually the next wave of lawsuits and testing upcoming. Not sure what the outcome will be, just reporting what is going on.

What really needs to be replaced? This is a huge bone of contention between the plaintiff lawyers who are wanting to fatten their wallets and those who just tell it like it really is. All the copper needs to be replaced. All electrical appliances or components need to be replaced. All the wiring does NOT! I repeat, wiring does not have to be replaced. A simple cleaning of the exposed copper ends with an emory cloth will polish it up. In the 100 test cases we have been involved with, if you skin back the wiring sheathing, the copper is as fine as new...bright and shining. the raw exposed ends could be black and corroded but easily cleanable to shiny again. Rewiring an entire home is a waste of $, but if you pay some hotshot PhD chemist experts enough money some will loose their integrity and say anything.

However, the Public Relations situation for Knauf and its distributors and others is a nightmare, so they agreed to pay for 100% rewiring just to make it go away. There are about 50 gut and redo jobs in Bham area right now in the first wave of the settlement.

The same plaintiff attorneys are now going back in and filing for construction defects, water intrusion, termite damage or code violations once all of the drywall is out and it is easy to see.

If you have any other questions, let me know and I'll help the best I can.

Thanks, just didn't want a nightmare later on.

Dang, I used to work at the Knauf Fiberglass plant.

Bamachem is correct but to add more....Originally Knauf drywall was brought into Mobile in 1999(I imported 2 ships and distributed about 800 truckloads) the company i worked for was one of Knauf's largest insulation distributors and sorda fell into the drywall explosion. The product then was originally brought over with the expectations of it being a warranted product. I left the company before all was sold and not really sure of all the parameters that were laid out. I know several retail dealers had enormous amounts of inventory left over for couple years...Knauf was heavily distributed in the panhandle, mobile/bladwin counties, montgomery to shelby counties, east alabama and into marshall counties, and chattanooga markets. if that helps anyone out.

my house was built in June of 2008.how would i know if i had this?should we be sick or is it just bad for the house.

Have you changed your air conditioner unit? If not you are OK.

Every house is different, because some houses with reactive drywall are 100% Chinese and some are varying lower percentages of mixed US drywall and Chinese reactive drywall.

Typical symptoms are these:
*Sulfur smell in the house, sometimes light sometimes strong

*Visible black corrosion on exposed copper wiring (electrical panels, ground and terminations for outlets and switches) or copper tubing for water, gas, HVAC.

*Excessive tarnishing or corrosion on silver and other metals like plumbing or light fixtures, silver serving sets, etc...

*Electrical issues with appliances or electrical equipment

*HVAC copper coil corrosion and failure of the coils repeatedly. Note: there was a period of bad coils in some HVAC systems about the same time, so one coil replacement does not mean you have a drywall issue.

*Respiratory issues and nose bleeds have been claimed in some cases


All of the above symptoms vary greatly depending upon the amount of reactive drywall in the house, where it is located (1st floor vs. 2nd floor), type of HVAC units installed and where the return vents are located, moisture and humidity levels, and the list goes on. There is no one single thing that tells the full story. The only way to fully know is to have everything checked, each wall board scanned with an XRF device to measure the Strontium level, and multiple drywall samples sent to a lab for a chamber test to measure the off-gassing and corrosive properties.

To do a cursory and basic check yourself:

Markings: Take a look on the backside of the drywall (if accessible) of a wall and in the ceiling to see if there is a made in China marking. Now all boards made in China are not reactive, so that is not a 100% foolproof method of knowing if you have a problem. Note that often a ceiling may be a different board type and may not have Chinese markings. Also note that some Chinese boards do not say "made in China" anywhere on them.

Electrical: Be smart, turn off the power before you do this to avoid killing yourself (my disclaimer). Take the door panel off of your electrical panel and look at the exposed copper. Take off a few switch/outlet plate covers and pull the switch/outlet to see the copper ground or terminations. Do one per room or so at a minimum. Is it black and corroded or shiny copper? Shiny then typically no issues.

Find an out of the way spot and cut a hole or scrape some drywall behind a switch cover, grind it up and then do a smell test. If there is a hint of sulfur then you might have it.

Normally when you find the markings, see some black corrosion on copper and smell a sulfur smell combined with ongoing electrical or HVAC issues--there is reactive Chinese drywall in the house to some degree.

June of 2008 tells me you are probably safe, but I've seen drywall installed in 2008 in Bham area that was reactive. The bulk of it was 2004-2007 though.