Hankins is petitioning mortgage giant Freddie Mac, which sold him his home, to test all homes it sells for meth contamination, and he is speaking with the company about covering his costs.

A Freddie spokesman, Brad German, said the company did not know the Hankins' home was contaminated. He said Freddie relies on local real estate agents to follow all state disclosure laws.

"We encourage buyers to do any test they want," said German. "Hankins didn't test and bought the house as-is."

Meth labs can turn up anywhere. Last year, one was found in a building of million-dollar-plus apartments on Manhattan's West Side. But the root of the problem lies in America's heartland. In states like Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma, thousands of meth labs are discovered each year.

Two years ago, Craig Lowther, a real estate attorney and investor in Springfield, Mo., discovered that a tenant had turned one of his homes into a meth lab.

"A young woman I was renting a house to let her father and brother live there and they were cooking meth in the basement," he said.

After cops busted the place, Lowther evicted everyone. But before he could rent out the property again, he had to clean all the interior surfaces and pull out the carpets and other materials. All the walls had to be repainted. It cost him nearly $2,000. He now does thorough background checks on all of his tenants.

Making crystal involves a witch's brew of ordinary household products like acetone, acids, brake cleaner, drain cleaner, iodine and paint thinner, which are all used to cook cold medicine containing the now highly-regulated ingredient, pseudoephedrine, into meth.

For every pound of meth produced, five to seven pounds of chemical waste is left behind. Meth molecules can cling to walls and floors, accumulate in carpets and cabinets and penetrate materials like insulation and drywall, according to Glenn Morrison, an associate professor of environmental engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology. And they can be re-emitted for months or even years.

Short-term exposure to these chemicals can lead to headaches, nausea, dizziness and fatigue. Over a long period, liver and kidney damage, neurological problems, and increased risk of cancer can occur, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.