Fulthrotl
~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
- Occupation
- E
Contaminated Sheetrock
- Thread starter ceb58
- Start date
- Status
This is some coincidence.
Just yesterday I was talking to a builder that brought up the same subject.
Seems that (locally) the same problem has shown it's ugly head.
Sulphur smell in new homes, contaminated sheetrock from China.
This may turn out to be big.
It could mean a lot of work, but not the kind that I'm happy to see.
Not the work per se, but the fact that the US is allowing greed and the almighty dollar affect the lives of so many innocent people.
That's just my opinion.
steve
Just yesterday I was talking to a builder that brought up the same subject.
Seems that (locally) the same problem has shown it's ugly head.
Sulphur smell in new homes, contaminated sheetrock from China.
This may turn out to be big.
It could mean a lot of work, but not the kind that I'm happy to see.
Not the work per se, but the fact that the US is allowing greed and the almighty dollar affect the lives of so many innocent people.
That's just my opinion.
steve
LawnGuyLandSparky
Senior Member
I watched a program on how sheetrock is made. It's paper, gypsum, and water. How can sheetrock become "contaminated?" When the gypsum isn't pure, or, I suspect the Chinese were using the sheetrock manufacturing process to dispose of their greywater.
...Lead paint on toys, contaminated sheetrock, poisonous pet foods, and people wonder why the dollar stores are closing.
...Lead paint on toys, contaminated sheetrock, poisonous pet foods, and people wonder why the dollar stores are closing.
growler
Senior Member
- Location
- Atlanta,GA
If it just has the rotten egg smell of sulfur then it's just sulfur dioxide and shouldn't be dangerous to work around.
Ventilate the house real good after the sheet rock is removed and it shouldn't be to bad.
People in the old days would drink sulfur water as a tonic ( I have smelled it but never drank any). Sulfur is also known as brimstone and that can't be good.
I really don't understand why the Chinese don't dispose of their toxic waste the way we do. Feed it to school children. :grin:
Fulthrotl
~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
- Occupation
- E
from what i read, the gypsum they were mining had sulfer in it, that was not
removed before manufacturing into sheetrock. some talking head said it was
'cause the gypsum mine was next to a toxic waste disposal site, and the
gypsum was contaminated. i don't know that china has any toxic waste
disposal sites... i think they just dump it wherever is convenient.
the US has a whole passel of regulatory agencies that most of us complain
about, for the best of reasons.
of course.china isn't saddled with most of those. labor standards, environmental regs.
all that icky stuff.
to put it in perspective, china had a fire in a coal mine that they just let
burn, as they didn't have the means to put it out. it finally went out last year.
it's been weeping smoke and sulfer fumes out of the ground for a long time.
how long? since before the the US civil war. mine fires are a whole 'nother
thing to put out, but china doesn't have an exemplary environmental policy.
peter d
Senior Member
- Location
- New England
The company that manufactured the tainted drywall was a Knauf affiliate in China. Knauf is a major German based multinational manufacturer of building materials.
LawnGuyLandSparky
Senior Member
from what i read, the gypsum they were mining had sulfer in it, that was not
removed before manufacturing into sheetrock. some talking head said it was
'cause the gypsum mine was next to a toxic waste disposal site, and the
gypsum was contaminated. i don't know that china has any toxic waste
disposal sites... i think they just dump it wherever is convenient.
the US has a whole passel of regulatory agencies that most of us complain
about, for the best of reasons.
china isn't saddled with most of those. labor standards, environmental regs.
all that icky stuff.
to put it in perspective, china had a fire in a coal mine that they just let
burn, as they didn't have the means to put it out. it finally went out last year.
it's been weeping smoke and sulfer fumes out of the ground for a long time.
how long? since before the the US civil war. mine fires are a whole 'nother
thing to put out, but china doesn't have an exemplary environmental policy.
We've got multiple mine fires burning as we speak in Pennsylvania. There really is a "Silent Hill."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTDAJMXZQKo
Cavie
Senior Member
- Location
- SW Florida
Names the company brand. Starts with K
Fulthrotl
~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
- Occupation
- E
you're right, and that was a poor example on my part.... on the other hand,
the US doesn't have all that great an environmental policy either.....
peter d
Senior Member
- Location
- New England
See post #26.
While we are on the subject of hidden dangers - I hate to be the bearer of bad news but that electrical tape you guys are fond of ripping off with your teeth isn't exactly made of peaches and lollipops. It's made of PVC.
PVC is extensively used in electrical cords of nearly all kinds. THHN uses it. NM uses it. Flexible PVC uses it. Almost every consumer product that plugs into the wall is has wires that are coated with it. There are alternatives but they cost more so people don't typically use them, except for high heat or specialized applications.
Now, normally PVC isn't all that bad. As long as you don't burn it (doing so releases toxic chlorine gas, among other things) it is generally ok as long as you don't do anything to it. But we all know that never works as we plan. Babies chew on it. Animals bite them. They get wet, handled, etc.
In order to make PVC flexible, they have to add plasticizers. Lots of them. On the order of 30 - 50% by weight. Most of them are phthalates of one type or another. Cheap, oil based and boy do they make PVC flexible. But they also leech out. Which is why, over time, flexible PVC tends to crack and become brittle. It is absorbed through the skin and well, mouth if you tend to rip tape that way. It also explains why electrical tape, Flexible PVC conduit and NM, etc has that funky smell.
While we are on the subject of electrical goods, and these tend to use batteries, many cheap adult toys also are made of the exact same stuff. Just not in roll form of course. Higher quality silicone toys and phthalate free toys are as you might expect, phthalate free. While on the subject of what tends to happen when two consenting adults engage in above activities, this stuff was until fairly recently even in babies toys.
In the grand scheme of things, PVC tape isn't the worst thing in the world. It is cheap, and it does serve useful functions (even if it degrades over time). But I always cringe when I reach for it.
It is known to cause birth defects, disrupts endocrine function, may contribute to diabetes, asthma and a whole host of other rather unpleasant effects and disease states.
I don't know if there are better alternatives. There sure aren't any cheaper ones that I know of. I just try to stay away from the stuff where possible. What is this board's opinion? Do you guys consider it just part of the job? Do you care at all? Do you laugh it off as a non manly type of problem? Does it concern you at all?
PVC is extensively used in electrical cords of nearly all kinds. THHN uses it. NM uses it. Flexible PVC uses it. Almost every consumer product that plugs into the wall is has wires that are coated with it. There are alternatives but they cost more so people don't typically use them, except for high heat or specialized applications.
Now, normally PVC isn't all that bad. As long as you don't burn it (doing so releases toxic chlorine gas, among other things) it is generally ok as long as you don't do anything to it. But we all know that never works as we plan. Babies chew on it. Animals bite them. They get wet, handled, etc.
In order to make PVC flexible, they have to add plasticizers. Lots of them. On the order of 30 - 50% by weight. Most of them are phthalates of one type or another. Cheap, oil based and boy do they make PVC flexible. But they also leech out. Which is why, over time, flexible PVC tends to crack and become brittle. It is absorbed through the skin and well, mouth if you tend to rip tape that way. It also explains why electrical tape, Flexible PVC conduit and NM, etc has that funky smell.
While we are on the subject of electrical goods, and these tend to use batteries, many cheap adult toys also are made of the exact same stuff. Just not in roll form of course. Higher quality silicone toys and phthalate free toys are as you might expect, phthalate free. While on the subject of what tends to happen when two consenting adults engage in above activities, this stuff was until fairly recently even in babies toys.
In the grand scheme of things, PVC tape isn't the worst thing in the world. It is cheap, and it does serve useful functions (even if it degrades over time). But I always cringe when I reach for it.
It is known to cause birth defects, disrupts endocrine function, may contribute to diabetes, asthma and a whole host of other rather unpleasant effects and disease states.
I don't know if there are better alternatives. There sure aren't any cheaper ones that I know of. I just try to stay away from the stuff where possible. What is this board's opinion? Do you guys consider it just part of the job? Do you care at all? Do you laugh it off as a non manly type of problem? Does it concern you at all?
peter d
Senior Member
- Location
- New England
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
Fulthrotl
~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
- Occupation
- E
pvc conduit, after it's been in the wholesale house yard a while, gets that
nice greasy film on it.... i assumed it was some part of polyvinyl chloride that
was leaching out, and tend to avoid handling it barehanded. polyvinyl chloride
tends to cause liver cancer, among other things.... but then, so does alcohol,
and i don't see most sparky's getting too worried about THAT.....
i don't handle pvc pipe, glue, and fittings barehanded. tape isn't easily avoided,
so that gets handled barehanded.
however, when i was 19~20, i spent two years in the capacitor manufacturing
industry, handling poly-b, which is polybutalene, a pcb of the worst order.
causes liver cancer in 20 years. that was 33 years ago. so far, so good....
peter d
Senior Member
- Location
- New England
. polyvinyl chloride
tends to cause liver cancer, among other things.... but then, so does alcohol,
and i don't see most sparky's getting too worried about THAT.....
Excellent point. Between the drugs and alcohol that many tradesman consume in copious amounts, concern about plasticizer doesn't appear to be on the radar screen.
- Location
- Simi Valley, CA
So did you hear Bob died?
Really? How?
PVC.
You're kidding? What did he do, eat it?
No, that's what the bumper of the bus that hit him was made out of.
Sorry my mind just works in a different way sometimes.
Really? How?
PVC.
You're kidding? What did he do, eat it?
No, that's what the bumper of the bus that hit him was made out of.
Sorry my mind just works in a different way sometimes.c2500
Senior Member
- Location
- South Carolina
I remember reading something a while back that said China's environmental state is like that of the USA in the 1920's. We figured it out (somewhat) and cleaned up our act. They, on the other hand, have not.
c2500
c2500
- Status