Construction Law

New Tests Conducted in Florida to Determine Which Chemicals Are Used in Chinese Drywall

Last Thursday the Florida Department of Health completed another round of drywall testing aimed at determining which chemicals in Chinese drywall are responsible for emitting the sulfur gases. Earlier tests conducted on Florida homes this past March found hydrogen sulfide, carbon disulfide and carbonyl sulfide coming from several Chinese drywall samples taken from the homes.

The new tests used a method called High Performance Liquid Chromatography. The test isolated particles in the drywall which researchers believe are responsible for releasing the gases. The drywall samples being studied are from the same samples of drywall which were collected for the previous round of testing.

The Florida Health Department hopes that these new tests will help to identify which chemicals in the drywall are responsible for the gas emission. Some findings have already been internally compiled but that report will not be released for another few weeks.

The next step for both state and federal authorities is to conduct air quality tests, though this form of testing has previously proven to be very difficult. The difficulty lies in fact that method for taking air samples from homes containing Chinese drywall has been called into question. Some believe previous tests used an unreliable method of transporting the air samples from the affected homes to the lab.

If you suspect your home may be built with defective Chinese drywall, contact us here for a free no obligation case review.

Full post as published by Construction Litigation Law Blog on June 10, 2009 (boomark / email).