Lee and Collier County Home Inspection Blog Spot

Recently, I have received a few calls asking me if I use a portable XRF to test for “Chinese drywall”. So I just wanted to answer some of the questions that people may have.

Portable x-ray fluorescence, or XRF, measures Strontium. Strontium is an element that can sometimes be found in elevated levels in “Chinese drywall”. Some inspectors believe elevated levels of strontium is a good indicator of “Chinese drywall” however, there appears to be a few major issues with this testing method.

1. In most cases, homes have been built with multiple brands of drywall in them. If a subject house does have “Chinese drywall” there could just be a few sheets in the whole house. With the XRF, if you do not test the specific sheet that is defective, than you could get a false negative.

2. Most importantly, it was stated in sections 1 and 3 of the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) Draft Report, June 2010, “IDENTIFICATION OF PROBLEMATIC DRYWALL: SOURCE MARKERS AND DETECTION METHODS”, that testing for strontium, alone using XRF to identify “Chinese drywall”, could produce some false positives and false negatives.

3. One other problem that I am hearing is that inspectors using portable XRF are charging high rates for the inspections.

As far as chemical testing for “Chinese drywall” the CPSC states that “Orthorhombic sulfur (S8) is a sensitive and specific marker of problematic drywall”. Testing for (S8) is usually done in a lab environment. This testing is destructive and can be expensive.

Here at safeguard Inspectors LLC we have spent hundreds of hours inspecting “Chinese drywall” homes and many hours deciphering the data and information produced from the CPSC and other agencies that are researching “Chinese drywall”. All of Safeguard Inspectors LLC drywall inspections implement the suggestions and methods that are recommended by the CPSC. We also implement some proprietary testing methods that we have refined using our experience and data of hundreds of inspections. We know that “Chinese drywall” is a concern for buyers, so here at Safeguard Inspectors, LLC we include a “Chinese drywall” inspection in our Full Home Inspections at no extra charge.

If you have any questions on testing methods for Chinese drywall or questions about anything else regarding home inspections, please feel free to contact us.