Bituminous Insurance Companies
Release Date: May 27, 2010
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) released the names of the drywall manufacturers whose drywall emitted high levels of hydrogen sulfide in testing conducted for the agency by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). There is a strong association between hydrogen sulfide and metal corrosion. Of the samples tested by LBNL, the top ten reactive sulfur-emitting drywall samples were all produced in China. Some of the Chinese drywall had emission rates of hydrogen sulfide 100 times greater than non-Chinese drywall samples.
The following list identifies the top 10 drywall samples (Note: 3 of the 10 samples were made by the same company) tested that had the highest emissions of hydrogen sulfide, along with the identity of the manufacturer of the drywall and the year of manufacture, from highest to lowest:
Other Chinese drywall samples had low or no detectable emissions of hydrogen sulfide as did the drywall samples tested that were manufactured domestically. A chart listing drywall chamber test results is available at the CPSC website at http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10243.pdf.
Last month, CPSC released the results of drywall emissions tests by LBNL. The studies showed a connection between certain Chinese drywall and corrosion in homes. In addition, the patterns of reactive sulfur compounds emitted from drywall samples show a clear distinction between certain Chinese drywall samples manufactured in 2005/2006 and other Chinese and non-Chinese drywall samples. The April 2010 CPSC Investigation of Imported Drywall Status Update is available at: http://www.cpsc.gov/info/drywall/apr2010status.pdf.
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