The Nation's Leader in Chinese Drywall Testing

Chinese Drywall Inspection

* Certified Chinese Drywall Testing, LLC offers the only insurable Chinese drywall inspection
* Other inspectors may carry Errors and Omissions insurance, but this insurance does not guaranteeChinese drywall inspection that their inspection actually detects defective drywall
* Our trained Chinese drywall inspectors will visit your home and take samples in discrete areas so that you don't see the sampled areas
* Our certified instrumentation experts will analyze each sample utilizing both technologies identified by the CPSC as reliable in the identification of Chinese drywall
* On average, Chinese drywall test results are availble within 10-14 days

Dozens of companies are offering Chinese drywall inspections. These drywall inspectors typically rely on a visual inspection for symptoms of Chinese drywall and can over no guarantee that the home is free of defective drywall. In fact, a recent Chinese drywall inspection in the American Southwest discovered homes that had no visible evidence of toxic drywall even though the homes did contain defective drywall. A visual Chinese drywall inspection is not a reliable way to determine the presence of toxic drywall.

Although the leading government agencies responsible for issuing a formal Chinese drywall inspection protocol have yet to do so, Certified Chinese Drywall Testing, LLC has developed the nation's first insurable and guaranteed Chinese drywall inspection.

Chinese drywall inspectorIn the absence of an official Chinese drywall inspection protocol, several companies have come out with drywall inspection options. Several different methods of Chinese drywall inspection have surfaced. The most common is a simple visual inspection for symptoms. A slightly more involved Chinese drywall inspector will offer limited material testing. Other inspectors are offering air sampling, even though air sampling has been found not to be a viable or reliable alternative for Chinese drywall inspectors.

None of these Chinese drywall inspection methods are adequate.

In consideration of the huge health and financial risks associated with defective drywall, only a guaranteed and insurable inspection option will suffice.

Visual Chinese Drywall Inspections

Without a formal inspection protocol, many firms have been marketing Chinese drywall inspections without any oversight. Unfortunately, many home owners and potential buyers are given a false sense of security and peace of mind from a simple visual inspection for toxic drywall. In reality, the results of a visual Chinese drywall inspection are essentially worthless. What good is an inspection if the results are not guaranteed? These tests simply confirm the absence of visual symptoms of Chinese drywall. The absence of these symptoms at the time the inspector visits the home does little to comfort home owners who will be living in the home for the next 5, 8, 10, or 20 years. Our inspection guarantees the absence of Chinese drywall, not just the absence of the symptoms of toxic drywall.

Most inspectors who offer visual Chinese wallboard inspections refer to the Florida Department of Health's release drywall inspectionfor preliminary inspection of homes suspected to contain Chinese drywall. This Florida DOH release does not provide any sort of guarantee or degree of reliability. We know first hand of several homes with no visual symptoms of Chinese drywall that do, in fact, contain defective drywall. A chemical analysis is the only consistently reliable Chinese drywall inspection.

The decisions that rely on these Chinese drywall inspections are too significant to be based upon a woefully inadequate visual inspection for the effects of Chinese drywall. Because of the subjective nature of a a visual inspection as well as the variability associated with the symptoms, the risk of these very basic visual Chinese drywall inspections misdiagnosing a home as free of Chinese drywall is high. Many homes in less humid areas have not begun to display the most prevalent symptom of Chinese drywall -- corrosion of copper and some of the other metals used in construction.

The cost of misdiagnosing these homes is even higher than the risk. On average, the cost of reparing a home with Chinese drywall exceeds 60% of the home's value -- in many cases, the cost is in excess of $100,000!

Do not rely on a visual inspection for Chinese drywall.

Air Sample Chinese Drywall Inspections

Other Chinese drywall inspectors offer air testing. These defective drywall inspections test the air present in the home for a variety of different compounds. Most of these inspections claim to test carbon disulfide concentrations in the air. Chinese drywall inspectionIn a recent report, the CPSC directly contradicts this Chinese drywall inspection process. "In statistical models, a significant difference in house average carbon disulfide was not observed...after controlling for outdoor carbon disulfide concentrations."

Chinese drywall inspectionOther air sampling Chinese drywall inspections sample for hydrogen sulfide. This gas is particularly unstable and is easily reabsorbed by the sampling bags, resulting in a Chinese drywall inspection that drastically underestimates the concentration of hydrogen sulfide and can produce false negatives, giving you a false sense of security.

Every study of the gases produced by Chinese drywall has acknowledged that reduced heat and humidity cause a reduction in the levels of gases produced. These tests are not reliable due to the variable nature of the gas production.

None of the air sample-based Chinese drywall inspections are insurable. Do not rely on air sample Chinese drywall inspections.
Material Sample Chinese Drywall Inspections

Material testing based Chinese drywall inspections are the preferred method if identifying defective drywall. Even within this category of inspections, some inspection methods are clearly superior.

Some Chinese drywall inspectors offer XRF testing alone. XRF testing allows for non-destructive testing because the XRF testing can be taken by shooting the XRF gun at the face of the wall. The problem with this Chinese drywall inspection approach is two-fold. First, in an in depth study commissioned by the CPSC, “one imported drywall sample with elevated carbonate but muted strontium concentration was determined to be a mix of synthetic and mined gypsum. Chinese drywall inspectorAll of the domestic drywall samples had low carbonate levels and the majority also had low strontium concentrations.” A sample with low strontium levels, as indicated above, would not have been identified as defective with a XRF-alone system and would have produced a false negative. Also, several samples of domestic drywall tested above the threshold and would have produced a false positive.

Secondly, the CPSC's interim guidance for identifying Chinese drywall calls for drywall core samples to be tested in order to increase the reliability of the testing.

Only Chinese drywall inspections that combine XRF with another technology, FTIR, are able to provide the degree of reliability necessary to provide the peace of mind. FTIR is necessary in order to test for calcium carbonate. Combining FTIR with XRF, yields nearly 100% reliable results. This is why we are the only company to offer an insurable Chinese drywall inspectionChinese drywall inspection.

Chinese drywall inspections that involve material sampling and testing are the most effective. The key to these Chinese drywall inspections is to guarantee that the number of samples taken are fully representative of the drywall installed in the home. Chinese drywall inspections that offer 5, 10, and even 30 drywall samples do not do the job. The average home has over 150 sheets of drywall. Many homes are only partially built with Chinese drywall. What good is a Chinese drywall inspection that samples 10% of the drywall in the home?

In addition to the number of samples taken, the equipment used to analyze these samples is also critical. The CPSC has identified two technologies as most effective at identifying Chinese drywall. In their report, the CPSC indicates:

“Using both FTIR and XRF measurements of carbonate and strontium, respectively, was therefore determined to be the most sensitive and specific marker of imported drywall.”
--"Draft Final Report CPSC Drywall and Indoor Environmental Quality Assessment," November 18, 2009.

Certified Chinese Drywall Testing has secured both FTIR and XRF equipment to allow cost effective and comprehensive sampling required for an accurate Chinese drywall inspection. This Chinese drywall inspection equipment is very expensive and highly specialized, but securing its use allows more cost effective sampling. Because we utilize both pieces of equipment solely for analysis of drywall samples, we have developed our methods and systems specifically for these tests. At this time, Certified Chinese Drywall Testing is the only company dedicated to this issue that has secured this equipment to allow for comprehensive Chinese drywall inspections.

The states most impacted by Chinese drywall inspections are:

* Florida
* Louisiana
* Mississippi
* Virginia