What are some of the symptoms that you should look for when identifying the potential of defective drywall?

Defective drywall was introduced to our market during the early part of our building boom in approximately 2001.  We have dealt with the effects of these findings over the past several years.  We have observed hundreds of homes with this defective drywall material.  The findings of this material in homes today have become very rare as most of these homes have been identified and have been remediated.  An example of symptoms that are often observed when defective drywall is present are listed below.

1. There is typically a strong odor that resembles sulfur or a rotten egg like smell.
2. You will often observe pitting at the hardware of fixtures such as those observed at shower heads or kitchen and bathroom faucets.
3. Mirrors tend to become compromised by a black smoky like shadow that appears around the edges of mirrors. 
4. You will see copper cartridges such as those observed in laundry rooms and under kitchen sinks that have turned black with a heavy soot.
5. The exposed copper portions of the wiring behind outlets will appear black and covered in this soot like debris.
6. The most indicative indication of defective drywall is typically found inside the air handler.  The air handler is in a sense the lungs of the house.  It takes in air from all portions of the home and reconditions it through the air handler.  The contaminated drywall influences the return air and leaves a heavy dark soot on the copper components in the air handler.

We have inspected well over a hundred homes in which we have observed the symptoms present that only later confirmed the presence of defective drywall.  We will alert every home buyer when we see or suspect evidence that is consistent with those found due to the presence of defective drywall.  We cannot charge for this service and nor can we identify this as a defective drywall inspection because we cannot guarantee you that we can definitively rule out that no defective drywall is present.  We do network with some drywall specialist that literally scan each piece of drywall in the home and mark each piece that appears to be affected by this defective drywall.  We can direct you to companies that specialize specifically in defective drywall scans.  We can easily identify when there is an obvious home that is populated with defective drywall, but it is my professional opinion that each piece be scanned to really provide our clients with the peace of mind that they really deserve.