The Virginian-Pilot
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It is now illegal to use Chinese drywall when constructing or renovating any building in Norfolk.
The City Council voted 8-0 on Tuesday to require contractors to certify they are not using Chinese drywall.
"If they don't do that, they won't get a building permit," City Attorney Bernard A. Pishko said.
Manufactured in China, the drywall was first imported into Hampton Roads in 2006.
It emits a sulfuric odor that is blamed for damaging air conditioning systems and electronic devices and for causing some health concerns.
Chinese drywall was used in constructing some homes in Hampton Roads, including four in the Harbor Walk condominium in East Ocean View.
The ordinance was requested by Councilman W. Randy Wright, who said he is concerned "that there is some of this laying around somewhere and that some builder is going to try to use it." The City Council voted Tuesday to require contractors to certify that they are not using Chinese drywall.
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EvanJ
Plywood has different grades and is made with outside layers that don't have knot holes or blemishes. It can be sanded down smooth for simple painting or other finish applications. Wallboard - gypsum - is mined from the ground and is not recyclable in any way. Once gypsum is taken out of the ground, that's it: there's no replacing it. Trees can be replanted again and again, making lumber products great renewable resources. Wallboard does not have the strength of plywood. A 1/4 inch sheet of plywood is much stronger than a half inch of wallboard. Plywood, when it gets wet, can be dried out and still used. Wallboard, if it gets wet, is ruined and has to be tossed into a landfill. Plywood debris can be burned to create energy. Fly ash from wood can be used as fertilizer: gypsum debris just adds to our landfill problems. The building industry went cheap when it came to using wallboard and everyone pays for it, in more ways than one.
Drywall prices will go up because of this
Like another reader stated. the market has already taken care of this.
Drywall suppliers stopped selling the product once the bubble burst a couple of years ago and its defects were found in Florida.
Now every sheet of drywall sold and used in Norfolk will need to be certified. I would imagine the maufacturers now have to add another step in production and pass the cost to you.
Do we require all siding,roofing,flooring,insulation done in Norfolk to be certified that it doesn't contain asbestos? No because the market worked it out once it was determined unsafe.
There are already laws in place that protect consumers from dangerous products.
does anybody remember a free market in America ?
soon you won't....
CaSO4 or CaSO3
As a reader said below, gypsum is CaSO4 (calcium sulfate). Gypsum is found as natural mineral but also much of this comes as synthetic gypsum from Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) process in coal fired power plants. This process was implemented to capture sulpur dioxide gas from the stack gasses which ultimately forms acid rain in the atmosphere. This is done thoughout the world, including the US. Synthetic gypsum is also included in US made wallboard. However, if the reaction of forced oxidation in the FGD process is incomplete, FGD produces CaSO3 (calcium sulfite). When exposed to water or high humidity, CaSO3 can produce sulfur dioxide gas which has unpleasant smell and corrosive properties.
Will Norfolk also ban Edsels?
This is nothing but political grandstanding. The likelihood of any of the defective drywall being used in new construction dropped to near zero about an hour after the first reports came out.
The marketplace can deal with these things just fine without pompous windbags passing ordinances forbidding people from doing things they would lose money by doing anyway.
About the only place that drywall will show up other than landfills or recycling facilities would be in government sponsored housing projects where bribes can overrule self interest.
Please
...shut the barn door. yeah, I know the horses are already out but there's the hindsighted principle of it all. We have to look proactive!
Wait, wait....I got a new one for you
American business will always figure out a cheap workaround to the detriment of consumers. You ready for the next phase of building materials for your house? Here it is:
Chinese carpeting
Chinese piping/plumbing
Chinese flooring
Chinese roofing shingles
Chinese windows and glass
Chinese bricks/siding
Chinese fertilizer.......oh yeah!!!
Natural?
Plywood isn't any more natural than wallboard. Wallboard is made out of pressed and dried gypsum and plywood is made out of glued, pressed, and dried wood. Those are both 100% materials. Plywood costs 2-3x more than wallboard and would need a lot of plastering to cover up all the knots and blemishes.
Go natural
Stick with plywood instead of sheetrock and you don't have this problem in the first place. Use American-made plywood that is all natural and completely recyclable and every one is safer and the country benefits too.
Wonder where
else this stuff is going to show up. We decided to hold off the purchase of a new condo for this very reason.
Yes, let's ban gypsum containing sulfur
Minor little problem science class failures, gypsum, the main ingredient in wallboard is Calcium Sulflate (CaSO4). Perhaps a little time on Google or Wikipedia would prevent you from showing your absolute ignorance in print and on TV. Something else is at play here, let's let the chemists figure it out before the undereducated make conclusions.