On August 27th, the Federal Interagency Task Force on Problem Drywall, comprised of staff members from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), issued a revision to their guidance on the identification of problem drywall based on a recent study:

• The Task Force now believes the best and preferred practice for identifying the presence of Chinese drywall in a home does not include the use of strontium as an exclusive marker. The study revealed that strontium was detected in drywall samples taken from ‘non-complaint’ homes as well as affected homes. The Task Force concluded that there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate strontium has a causative role in the problems reported with Chinese drywall.
• Rather, the Task Force asserts elemental sulfur is the marker most directly correlated with reports of problem drywall in a home. In this same study, elemental sulfur was not found in the drywall of any ‘non-complaint’ homes but was present in high concentrations in all affected homes. Furthermore, the test method for elemental sulfur is a more accurate method than that for strontium, providing greater assurances to interested parties.

For more information on the CPSC’s revision please contact our lab at 805-526-7161 or visit http://www.caslab.com/Chinese-Drywall-Testing/

Tags: Chinese Drywall, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Corrosive, Corrosive Drywall, CPSC, Department of Housing and Urban Development, drywall, elemental sulfur, Federal Interagency Task Force on Problem Drywall, HUD, orthorhombic cyclooctasulfur, problem drywall, S8, strontium, sulfur

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 14th, 2010 at 2:22 pm and is filed under Air Quality Testing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.