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by Wally Conway,
Host
of the Home and Garden Show on WOKV
Spanish tile can really make a kitchen pop, Italian marble on your
floors will make you the envy of your neighbors, but Chinese Drywall
just plain stinks!
When I say STINKS, I mean stinks like rotten eggs. The sulfur compounds
in drywall imported from China between 2003 and 2006 is causing
some real problems in the real estate industry.
The sulfur compounds can be very destructive to your home, in addition
to smelling bad. Their corrosive nature can tarnish fixtures, corrode
A/C units, and increase resistance and corrosion in electrical connections.
Some homes have been completely gutted in an effort to solve the
problems caused by Chinese drywall.
Best guess is that as many as 36,000 homes in Florida may have
Chinese drywall. Most of the Florida homes affected have been in
the Sarasota area, with a second concentration around Palm Beach.
If homeowners want to see for themselves if they have Chinese drywall,
they can simply climb into the attic area and check the drywall
that forms the ceiling over the garage. Those areas won't be painted
over and are rarely covered in insulation, so the markings originally
placed on the drywall when it was manufactured will be visible.
If the markings on the back of the drywall say "Made in China",
then they've got Chinese drywall. Additional indicators of Chinese
Drywall require the removal of the electric panel and air-handler
covers and should NOT normally be done by homeowners.
So far, there have been no reports of Chinese drywall in Northeast
Florida homes by any ASHI certified inspectors, but that has not
been much comfort to homebuyers who are inundated with the scary
reports in the media.
Your best bet to comfort buyers is to have HomePro Inspections
inspect for and document the absence or presence of Chinese drywall
in the home. The fee for our visual assessment is $195.00. Should
a visual assessment lead us to believe Chinese/Toxic drywall is
present in the home, we can conduct further testing at reasonable
fees, starting at $150 per sample.
And if you really want to be on top of any problems before they
kill your next deal, ensure that your home inspector provides a
Chinese Drywall Clearance Letter as a part of the listing inspection!
If you have further questions or comments, just ask; I'm only a
phone call away! 904-268-8211
Copyright © Florida HomePro, Inc. and Wallace
J. Conway. All rights in all media reserved.
About the Author: Wally Conway is your weekly Host of the Home
and Garden Show on WOKV, and author of the book "Secrets of the Happy
Home Inspector", available at GoHomePro.com.
Wally's expertise and experience has been sought after by HGTV's "House
Detective", DIY Network's "Finders Fixers", the National Association
of REALTORS®, newspapers, and corporations. As a speaker, writer, and instructor,
Wally blends the right amount of up-to-date information with just the right
amount of humor, insight, motivation, and real-world application. Visit WallyConway.com
for more information!
Reproduction of this article: Permission is granted to use this article
in any media provided that the article is reproduced in its entirety as shown
above, with the authors resource box/bio included including links to http://www.gohomepro.com
and http://www.wallyconway.com
as the original publisher.
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