On March 4, 2011 NAHB’s Chinese Drywall Task Force unveiled the testing and remediation guidelines in this guidance document for association members who have questions about how to detect and remediate problematic drywall. At the time of publication some of the information contained in this document was based on interim guidance from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) pending the completion of the CPSC’s scientific studies and readers were advised to pay close attention to the results of those studies when they were made available to the public.
On March 18, 2011, the CPSC announced that based on the results of a study conducted on its behalf by Sandia National Laboratories, it was revising its interim guidance issued in April 2010 and, as a result, the CPSC is no longer recommending the removal of all electrical wiring in homes with problem drywall. The CPSC and HUD remediation guidance is still calling for the replacement of fire safety alarm devices (including smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms); electrical distribution components (including receptacles, switches, and circuit breakers, but not necessarily electrical wiring); and gas service piping and fire suppression sprinkler systems.
We have now updated the guidance document to reflect, where applicable, this latest information from the CPSC and HUD.