Your Houston Refinance Resource

If the walls in your house are less than 5 years old, there is real concern that you may be breathing toxic, even radioactive, air and has in turn lead to a real concern over Lowes Chinese drywall, since it was so often used.  This, in turn, has led many mortgage lenders to have yet another issue to look for and be concerned about when people are applying for a mortgage refinance, or a mortgage for a new(er) home purchase.

You might be wondering how in the world this could be possible.  The answer is simple; between a housing boom that was going on a few years ago at the same time as massive reconstruction due to extra severe hurricane seasons in the south east, US home builders, general contractors and remodelers were having a tough time securing enough drywall.  China came to the rescue with additional supplies to meet our needs and keep the construction and mortgage markets churning.  Unfortunately, it has become clear that some of that supply was tainted.  The question for many people is, what about Lowes Chinese drywall?

Let’s take a closer look at what happened…

While the US usually produces more than enough drywall for our own needs, in this situation of high need it was necessary to import additional drywall from China; about 550 million pounds of it.  This is enough to build about 60,000 average sized homes.  The problem is that in 2009, many homeowners who have walls made of Chinese drywall have reported a range of health issues including respiratory tract infections, headaches, sinus problems and nose bleeds.

It has been determined that through the use of laboratory tests that several volatile chemicals are emitting sulfurous the gasses carbon disulfide, carbonyl sulfide and hydrogen sulfide.  If the names alone don’t scare you, the fact that this stuff smells like rotten eggs and is coming from your wall certainly will!

On top of the smell and headaches is the fact that it will corrode anything made of copper when it comes into contact with it.  This can include copper wires or copper plumbing in your walls.

Is it any wonder mortgage lenders are wanting to look into the materials in your walls now?

Drywall is typically made by pressing a plaster-like material made of gypsum between layers of heavy paper and then kiln dried.  While there are numerous theories of what happened with the Chinese drywall, one of the main suspicions is that they used fly ash.  Fly ash is a waste material that is a by-product of coal burning power plants and contains strontium sulfide.

Strontium sulfide can have various detrimental health affects including negatively affecting bone growth in developing children.  Chronic exposure to the gasses being emitted can also lead to problems with the central nervous system, cardiovascular health, kidneys and liver as well as eyes and skin.

No doubt about it, this is nasty stuff…

The good news is that it has been determined that none of the defective Chinese drywall was sold at either the Home Depot or Lowes.  If you know that the drywall in your house came from these sources, then you have nothing to worry about (and you shouldn’t have any issues obtaining your new mortgage).  On the other hand, if you are not sure of the source of the materials used in your home and you have been suffering from some of the issues described above, especially if you live in the southeast and have noticed smells increasing as the heat and humidity increase, you may want to contact your local Department of Health for more information.

Due to all the above concerns it’s not surprising to learn that more and more contractors and Do It Yourselfers have been asking, “Where can I buy drywall online”.  And why mortgage lenders are eager to see proof of where materials used on homes (in the southest) which have had work done on them recently, came from.