As of the writing of this article, there are still many questions left to be answered in relationship to Chinese drywall. This uncertainty has led many potential buyers to question the home of their dreams.
Estimates are that homes built between 2001 and 2008 could be affected. With so many homes potentially affected by Chinese drywall, it is no wonder that the market is largely paralyzed. The consequences of purchasing a home that has Chinese drywall problems are huge. For many, it means financial ruin. Homes that were once valued close to one million dollars are now worth a fraction of that, if they are able to be sold at all. Routed from their home, home owners have no choice but to escape to a safer living condition. Suffering from headaches, nose bleeds, and upper respiratory infections, many home owners opt for the comfort of a rental over the home that they own. Others suffer more dramatically. Chronic migraines, insomnia, and dementia have caused doctors to advise their patients to “get out” of their homes.
Rightfully so, potential buyers are terrified.
The absence of the corrosion typical in homes with defective drywall is not, in and of itself, comforting. Homes that are exposed to lower levels of humidity have been slower to show signs of Chinese drywall. A simple visual inspection for Chinese drywall is much like just kicking the front tires of a used car. While obvious signs of corrosion are a good indicator that a home contains Chinese drywall, the fact that those signs are not present is far from a guarantee that the home is free of toxic drywall.
There are a variety of testing options. I wrote in greater details about those options in another article. For our sake here, I will go over them again briefly.
Inspection options start with a visual inspection. This inspection does nothing but inspect for outward signs of a problem. While somewhat comforting, the potential consequences of relying on this sort of superficial inspection should dissuade buyers from basing their purchase decision on this Chinese drywall test.
More involved is an air sample test. Variations of air tests have been used for quite some time. These tests involve sampling air from a home and analyzing it for specific compounds. The Consumer Products Safety Commission, who is heading up the government’s investigation into toxic drywall does not recommend these tests.
Yet more involved is material testing. There are several levels of material testing involving different numbers of samples. Because homes were often built partially with Chinese drywall and partially with domestic drywall, it is crucial that all of the drywall in a home be tested to guarantee it free of toxic drywall.
As a buyer considering the largest purchase of your life, it does not make sense do anything other than insist on the highest level of protection. In this real estate environment, buyers can insist that sellers of suspect homes pay for this testing so that they feel comfortable moving forward.
Joseph Weissglass is a leader in drywall testing and drywall inspections. As the Founder/President of Certified Chinese Drywall Testing, Weissglass developed the nation’s only insurable drywall testing protocol. Read more about drywall testing at http://www.certified-chinese-drywall-testing.com.
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