We’ve all heard of Chinese food, Chinese acrobats and, of course, Chinese New Year. Many of us, however, have never heard of Chinese drywall.  Fortunately, that’s because we reside in an area that hasn’t yet had to deal with the costs attributed to and associated with Chinese drywall.

At an increasing rate, homeowners, especially from the southeast United States, have been complaining of odors and odd occurrences in their homes. Numerous complaints have been filed with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the EPA and the Center for Disease Control. These complaints have centered on Chinese drywall, which has been determined to have already caused damage in about 100,000 homes.

Complaints include a “rotten egg” smell, blackening or corroding of plumbing fixtures (including copper piping and wiring), discoloration of lighting fixtures and even jewelry, as well as the failure of common household appliances (air conditioners, televisions, computers and microwaves).

Chinese drywall made its way into the U.S. during the housing boom and housing repair work associated with the severe structural damage caused by numerous hurricanes between 2003 and 2007. U.S. producers were unable to meet demand and drywall was imported from China in order to meet that demand. Reports indicate that as a result, an estimated 600 million pounds of Chinese drywall was used in homes across the US. The installation time of the drywall was between the years 2003 and 2008, and it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of homes built in the U.S. contain the defective Chinese drywall. While most current complaints continue to be in the southeastern U.S., similar issues have been reported in other regions.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued various advisories directing property owners and contractors to determine whether residences contain Chinese drywall. These directives include a visual inspection and chemical analysis, to confirm the presence of Chinese drywall in the home.

HUD recommends that as part of a visual inspection, homeowners should look for corrosion or blackening of copper wiring in light switches and electrical outlets, air conditioning cooling coils, and silver objects, including jewelry.

Chemical analysis of the drywall can and should be done if visual inspections indicate possible contamination.