Chinese Drywall Testing by EPA Confirms High Levels of Chemicals

This week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed Chinese drywall testing found that samples of wallboard imported from China between 2004 and 2008, which have caused corrosion and other problems for hundreds of homeowners, contains certain potentially harmful chemicals that are not found in drywall manufactured in the United States.

The study, conducted at the request of Senators Bill Nelson and Mary Landrieu, discovered the presence of sulfur in the Chinese drywall, which is not present in U.S. drywall. In addition, the Chinese drywall contained 10 times the amount of strontium, and two organic chemicals that are usually found in acrylic paints.

The findings have led the senators to call for increased funding for EPA studies into the Chinese drywall problems and the potentially hazardous effects homeowners could be facing.

“We now know there are three things in there that aren’t in other drywall samples,” Nelson said. “We’ve got the ‘what’ and now we need the ‘why’ – and, how do we fix it? In the end, I think all this stuff is going to have to be ripped out.”

Nelson and Landrieu have already proposed legislation seeking a nationwide recall on Chinese drywall, which estimates suggest may have been installed in up to 100,000 homes throughout the United States.

The EPA began Chinese drywall testing after reports started surfacing about homeowners detecting strong sulfuric smells, similar to the odor of rotten eggs, and experiencing corroded wiring and failures of relatively new appliances in homes built within the last few years.

Federal and state investigators are also looking into reports of health problems experienced by residents living in homes with Chinese drywall, such as nosebleeds, headaches and breathing difficulties.

An increasing number of homeowners and builders are filing lawsuits over Chinese drywall in attempts to recover the cost of replacing all of the drywall throughout their homes, as well as replacing corroded electrical appliances after the wiring was destroyed by the drywall. The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation is scheduled next week to consider a motion filed to consolidated and centralize the drywall lawsuits before one judge for pretrial litigation.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts, heard testimony about the difficulties plaintiffs are facing in suing the foreign manufacturers of the defective drywall. According to testimony presented at the hearings, despite dozens of claims filed in U.S. courts, no one has been successful in serving papers on either the Chinese manufacturer, or its parent company in Germany.

The defective drywall imported from China was reportedly made with fly ash residue, which is a waste material captured from chimneys of coal-fired power plants. The sheets contain sulfur compounds, which has primarily caused homeowners to experience drywall problems in moist or humid locations.