The easiest way to tell is by looking at the backside of the drywall for the letters KNAUF. Try going in the attic to see the back of the sheets on the ceiling.

@slopirate: It's about $200-300k for a nice neighborhood and a pretty good sized nice house on a golf course that used to host a PGA tournament until a few years ago...the sponsor was dying to move it to a course in the city.

@Urgleglurk: Only problem is as you said "the citizens cannot be trusted to regulate themselves" and the people who run the govt. are citizens.

Amen! I so damn sick and tired of all this low quality crap flowing into our country and our lives. It's driven by materialistic consumer greed and corporations that could care less what they sell as long as they maximize profit margin. I understand they are in business to make a profit, but at the expense of their consumers' well being...REALLY??? What happens where there are no consumers because people either know better than to buy their dangerous, cheap CRAP, or they've poisoned or killed them all off due to toxic products? This is one instance, of many, where less is more.

To solve the Chinese scammy quality problem, we need to hold those selling/ordering the junk and requesting items be built to junk specs accountable.

Another possibility is that the Chinese gypsum is coming from processes other than flue gas desulfurization. Manufacturing processes for fertilizer, which involve mostly phosphate ore and sulfuric acid, produce a gypsum byproduct. As does the manufacture of titanium dioxide pigment, which uses limestone as part of an acid neutralization process. Hmm, seems like a lot of acidic impurities if one didn't properly filter or mix the final product that went into your drywall.

I think we should start moving back to brickwork.

Yeah, and I still blame HP laser printers for killing the movement towards the paperless office. Now we print in triplicate, one to file, one for you to throw away, and one for the recipient to throw away...

@dlng_wnd: Wht's fw mlln t f 2+ Blln Chnmn?

We've discovered they re-used the sliding glass doors from a previous building, the insulation is lacking in the roof across almost half the house, the plugs sink into the wall when you plug something in - the fuse box is ancient (as in not even being able to handle a reasonable load without exploding regularly).

When I redid my main basement room, I used 1/2 inch, mildew resistant stuff. Cost was probably twice what it would have been if I'd used 3/8, but it was worth it.

Another thing to add to my list of worries for any future home construction material. I thought I'd be safe if I just avoided radioactive sand & sandstone -
[www.latimes.com]

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

There is no method known to man that can safeguard us from unsafe products from China. Any system you can devise, the clever Chinese can learn to game and exploit.

The sulfate that results from the scrubbing process at coal-fired power plants is known as synthetic gypsum, and is used widely by many drywall manufacturers, both domestic and international. The process is considered to be environmentally friendly because a waste product is turned into a raw material for something useful and it prevents mining additional natural gypsum. In greener states like California, most of the drywall produced is from synthetic gypsum.

Now, if the Chinese manufacturers used it incorrectly, they may be to blame, but there is nothing inherently wrong with synthetic gypsum.

So even if you DON'T want cheap Chinese crap you have to pay a hell of a lot more, which few can afford to do.

His supplier bailed on him though and he was a horrid businessman to begin with (he spent all his profits ASAP, instead of reinvesting in the business) so it ultimately failed. But I wanted one of his houses so bad.

A friend of mine has steel walls layered inside 4" thick foam, so their walls are about 12" thick. I've also seen a house in california constructed with hay bales. Both super energy efficient.

it can, when it is a company in THIS country. you know why? we have rabid lawyers...like it or not, that keeps companies on their toes for the most part.

chinese companies? sue a chinese company...good luck, it'll probably disappear and reappear under a different name protected by corrupt government officials.

Perhaps in 15 - 20 years the home-building market will rebound, if only to replace ones that have been built in the last 10 years that will have disintegrated into mush by then.

What are they complaining about? This is the bleeding edge of electric conservation. Those sulfuric acid walls can be converted into batteries for energy storage.

Another reason to think about buying used. Used=previously beta tested on someone else.

@kc2idf: Glad that's working so well.

We know it works because you see a story like this every once in a while, not 100 a day. No system is perfect.

Of course, when I build my new house, it's going to be a nice two story steel house. Something freeing about not having to have load bearing walls.

Glad that's working so well.

@Urgleglurk: A disinterested party in necessary in all regulation - and there are no such persons in business.

The "disinterested party" in business is the free market.

any more than a city can regulate its citizenry without police

I think you're holding your copy of the Constitution upside down. Turn it over and read it again.

I'm impressed that they didn't just make the insulation out of melamine.

Glasses must have been made in China.

"I am not much for government oversite for private companies but this is getting ridiculous."

History has repeatedly shown that business cannot be trusted to regulate itself, any more than a city can regulate its citizenry without police. A disinterested party in necessary in all regulation - and there are no such persons in business. Those running a business want as much profit as possible - as a matter of fact, in the US, it is law that a business must generate as much profit for the shareholders as possible.

No system can survive long without a governing force in place to prevent it from running out of control.

When you can import heavy toilets from China and still make more profit over making and shipping them locally, you know you have a problem.

My current house (75 years old in a nice neighborhood) is cinder block with cork insulation. Tight as a drum, so I recommend it, however I also recommend UFFI insulation...

Cinderblock is a great building material if properly used, and a great insulator. Awesome for hurricanes.
Problem with the houses I'm talking about is they didn't use "real" cinderblocks, they used half blocks, which are only about 4" thick instead of the full 8". Which means they're cheaper, but less durable and less insulating.

In Florida, that's just asking for it.

People will continue to purchase cheap chinese junk because its cheap. When most people shop, they assume that all products are equal and scan for cheapest price.

Really....with all the recalls and warning issued because of Chinese products, why do we still use them for manufacturing. I wonder if it would not be prudent to fine U.S. companies who make substandard and hazardous materials such as this, or who skip safety checks at the very least.

I am not much for government oversite for private companies but this is getting ridiculous.

Having seen how all these "townhomes" around me were constructed (out of fiberboard on the top floors and half blocks - not even whole cinderblocking - on the bottom, with minimal insulation and single pane windows - IN FLORIDA!) I'd never have handed over the $200k+ they were asking.

Now they're down in the $120's and even that is risking it, since your power bill will be horrendous due to lack of insulation in the summer.