In North America, drywall is used as a construction alternative to wood & plaster. It should be perceived that drywall is made up of paper, gypsum and other additives such as resin, mica and clay.
If you’re not aware then you must know that drywall creates silica and gypsum dust, which are extremely damaging for the lungs. That’s the reason why home inspectors should always be wearing protective equipment before inspecting the condition of drywall such as gloves, safety glasses and dust masks. Moreover, you must remember that water can easily damage drywall, which leads to a loss of strength and gives a perfect environment for mould to grow.
Problems With Drywall
Professional home inspector in Amarillo TX states that the earliest drywall came into the American market in the 1950s, which was generally treated as an alternative to plaster. The drywall requires fewer installation measures and the worker skills were also required less.
However, during the years 2001 to 2009, drywall was imported from China in massive amounts and therefore problems started to surface inside multiple American homes. Contamination was one of the major problems of drywall.
What Is Lurking Inside The Drywall?
Numerous samples have already been taken from contaminated homes and the samples show an extraordinary amount of sulphur present. Sulphur has a rotten-egg-like smell and the presence of such smell is the first clue that something is wrong with the drywall.
The bad news is that – it’s not only that the Chinese drywall showed contamination. Even the American-made ones also showed contamination and some of them had larger content of sulphur presence than even Chinese-made ones.
Therefore, homeowners, regardless of their source of drywall, had to deal with sulphur contamination. Whether it’s from China or America, the results were the same.
The Ways To Spot Contaminated Drywall
When the sulphur odour from the drywall continues to linger over time, the overall situation worsens and can become overwhelming for many home dwellers. And by the time the odour fades away, the damage will already be done.
It should be known that sulphur reacts with copper that is present inside electrical boxes, leading to blackened, charred-looking copper wires, which lowers the overall lifespan of the copper wires. Moreover, contaminated drywall deteriorates over time easily as the surface starts to crumble.
Some of the human negative effects include allergies and breathing difficulties. Sometimes headaches and blood release from the nose might also happen.
Therefore, it can easily be seen that even though Chinese drywall tends to have a rocky reputation, the manufacturing place doesn’t matter at all. It’s possible that home inspectors can find contaminated drywall anywhere and when you can use the above-mentioned examples to spot the contamination, it’s high time that you replace the same.
