Chinese Drywall in St. Augustine, Florida

[Shawn Rowe]

It is official, Chinese Drywall has been found in St. Augustine.

We verified that a 2006 St. Augustine home was indeed built with Chinese Drywall. The home was built by a small builder in town and not one of the larger track home builders mentioned in the Class Action Suit.

According to the homeowner, the construction supply lists indicate that half the home was built using two different wallboards. Both types of wallboard were provided by a very well known construction material supplier.

The homeowners describe typical “Chinese Drywall” symptoms over the last couple of years. Air handler coils have been replaced twice. Multiple plumbing fixtures have tarnished and/or corroded. The sulfur smell is not bad all the time but some days are worse than others perhaps relating to the humidity level.

Take note:
*this is not just occurring with large builders.
*this is not a South Florida problem
*homes may contain just part Chinese Drywall.
*A sulfur smell is NOT always detectable.
*This home is not in a newer subdivision.

[Steve Taylor]

Shawn,

Thanks for the info! Hope all is well with you. Are you coming to the spring cont. ed conf. next month?

[William E. Siegel]

Your confirmed the symptons. How did you actually confirm that it was Chinese drywall??

[Shawn Rowe]

Originally Posted by wsiegel

Your confirmed the symptons. How did you actually confirm that it was Chinese drywall??

Drywall was removed.

[William E. Siegel]

Do you have a picture for all to see the markings on the back of the drywall. I am asking this so everyone can see how the drywall is marked. There are two kinds of drywall that come from China. Some is OK and some is not. Thanks.

[Scott Keiper]

Originally Posted by staylor7

Shawn,

Thanks for the info! Hope all is well with you. Are you coming to the spring cont. ed conf. next month?

When and where is the spring conf

[Shawn Rowe]

Originally Posted by wsiegel

Do you have a picture for all to see the markings on the back of the drywall. I am asking this so everyone can see how the drywall is marked. There are two kinds of drywall that come from China. Some is OK and some is not. Thanks.

ACCORDING TO LOCAL SUPPLIERS, NOT ALL KNAUF CHINESE DRYWALL IS BAD.

Another recent inspection confirmed a home with KNAUF China ASTM C-36 drywall but with absolutely no signs or symptoms of corrosion or odors.

Here are two photos from my inspections of Knauf Drywall. One is from Tianjin (known to be bad) the other from Donssuan (supposedly NOT bad).

Check out the DOH site as they have recently added a map of known cases. http://www.doh.state.fl.us/environme...Statslarge.gif

[William E. Siegel]

I cannot tell from the first picture (cant read the name of the town it was manufactured in), but the second picture is stamped with ASTM and is not one of the ones importe from China that is causing the problem.

[Gerry Beaumont]

Hi to all,

for those that are interested, I will be running a class covering Chinese Drywall at the next West central Florida chapter meeting held at the CATcleaning facility on june 13th 2009.

Click here for details

http://www.nachi.org/forum/f13/west-...meeting-39701/

Regards

Gerry

[Shawn Rowe]

I hope I didn't confuse anyone with last post. I basically wanted to show the difference between the two different types of KNAUF drywall that I have observed here. Not all KNAUF drywall is bad.

William, you cannot go by "ASTM".

Both Chinese drywall samples I have are marked with ASTM C36. You have to pay attention to the print type and size and be able to read more than KNAUF.

[Joe Farsetta]

Actually, you'd need to see the BACK of the drywall, which in most cases is impossible for an inspector to do unless he/she is present at the time of installation.

[Humberto Carvajal]

In the attic you can see the back of the drywall.