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Chinese Drywall
Included in our realm of services is investigation into potential sources of odors and volatile organic compounds (VOC) that may be emanating from building materials. Recently an issue regarding an unpleasant odor, noted primarily in residential structures, has been brought to the fore front. In the past two years, we have performed multiple investigations all of which have been in different locations, but have all had a homogenous odor. In all of the locations the drywall has been determined to be the source of the odor. This drywall has since been coined "Chinese Drywall" because the majority of it was apparently imported from manufacturers in China. The odor that has been reported is routinely described as a "rotten egg", "sulfur", "burnt matches" or a chemical type smell. This smell may be the result of off-gassing of a sulfur compound within the drywall, however, research is still in the early stages and hard facts are not yet available.Based on AMRC`s experience, the `Chinese Drywall` is most notably creating an unpleasant odor, however, it may also be impacting metal building materials within structures. In many of the homes experiencing this drywall odor, the cooling coils and other metal parts associated with the air conditioning system, specifically those made from copper, have shown signs of corrosion. This corrosion has caused air conditioning units to malfunction prematurely and repeatedly. Again, not enough data exists to ascertain the exact link between the two issues but it does appear that a chemical compound present in the air is coming in contact with the copper coils resulting in deterioration of the metal and this seems to be happening in homes having `Chinese Drywall` issues.
Currently, a noticeable number of builders, installers, and material suppliers are being affected by this issue and their individual responses have varied. A considerable amount of testing has been conducted in an attempt to determine exactly what constituent(s) of the drywall compound is/are being released, what the long term affects may be and how to remedy the problem, however, in most cases the results have been inconclusive.