To enhance the durability and consistency of plywood, the grain of each layer is oriented in a different direction. You don’t have to worry about knot holes at the edge of a panel where you are nailing. Manufacturers have not seen a deluge of failures due to the use of osb under resilient flooring. They think that “glued-together” is not as good as “nailed-together”. How to Choose the Right Retaining Wall Material, Flashing a Deck Ledger Board on Vinyl Siding, We are no longer supporting IE (Internet Explorer), How to Pour a Concrete Slab Successfully: 31 Tips, Do Not Sell My Personal Information – CA Residents. However, with OSB, the layers are more cross-oriented. If osb is made from aspen or poplar, it gets a big fat zero with regard to natural decay resistance. Houses under construction get rained on. melamine vs plywood shelves. I recently made a couple of 12' long x 24" deep shelves using OSB. And if you use osb in an area of very high humidity, like over an improperly vented attic or over a poorly constructed crawlspace, you are asking for trouble. i have one from Emerson which gets good reviews and i've seen other brands at the hardware stores which … Pine, spruce, mahogany, Douglas fir, birch, oak and maple are types of wood used for exterior plywood. Joe Tarver, Executive Director of the National Tile Contractors Association, Jackson, MS says, “ Osb is not an acceptable substrate to receive ceramic tile, period!” NTCA lists osb, along with pressboard and luan plywood, as “not acceptable” in its reference manual. Osb responds more slowly to changes in relative humidity and exposure to liquid water. And OSB is available in 4 x 9-ft. sheets, which means you can sheathe an 8-ft. tall wall and the joists below with a single sheet. Manufacturers have done a good job of addressing this issue at the manufacturing facility and during transportation by coating panel edges. November 8, 2020 at 10:16 am. OSB is made by combining glue, resin, and wood chips and pressing them into the shape of a plywood sheet then baking everything together. when deciding between wire shelving and wood shelving. “It looks like a bunch of junk pounded together.”, is how one homeowner described osb to me. However, osb feels stiffer when you walk across a floor covered with it because there are no occasional weak panels like plywood. Osb was slammed in the press. APA’s market data indicates that more than half the structural panels used in residential construction in 1995 were osb. It is human nature to be afraid of a new product. Enquire Now for Plywood. Likewise, APA the Engineered Wood Association, the agency responsible for approving more than 75% of the structural panels used in residential construction, treat osb and plywood as equals in their published performance guidelines. Osb is different. The longer that water remains within osb the more likely it is to rot. The edges of cut sheets are seldom if ever treated in the field. Professor Poo Chow, a researcher at the University of Illinois, studied the withdrawal and head pull-through performance of nails and staples in plywood, waferboard and osb. Pros of OSB. During the manufacturing process, plywood veneers are randomly selected and stacked up into panels. However, AdvanTech and products like it have greatly improved performance qualities. Codes recognize these two materials as the same. Smaller trees can be used to make osb. Use the right type of nails to fix the OSB wood. To begin with, the composition of each material is different. OSB and plywood can both be used for walls, floors and roofs, but there are some differences between them. But price is not the whole story. OSB vs Plywood: Water Test The edges of the 1/2-in. However, nail-holding ability controls performance in shear wall applications. If you are planning to use osb as a subfloor OR underlayment for your next tile floor, you may want to think again. Swollen edges of osb panels can telegraph through thin coverings like asphalt roof shingles. Nails that are too thin will not help you to keep the wood in place. Both oriented strand board (OSB) and plywood are considered the same by building codes. such as melamine and other pressed boards or plywood… The term ghost lines or roof ridging was coined to describe the effect of osb edge swelling under thin roof shingles. These materials are being used in an increasing number of construction projects, because they are much cheaper than wood and most other engineered wood products, such as plywood … OSB is the acronym used for Oriented Strand Board. Mdf tends to sag over time and is affected by humidity. Plywood vs. OSB (Oriented Strand Board): Major Differences . D.) Fig. Florida’s Dade county is the only building code district in the country that prohibits the use of osb as a roof deck. Michelle says. The wood veneer is literally peeled from the log as it is spun. Is it some special super stiff OSB… This structure mimics plywood. But using panels made of wood chips makes some builders nervous. However, customers are nervous about engineered wood because all they see are little pieces of wood stuck together. Resulting veneers have pure tangential grain orientation, since the slicing follows the growth rings of the log. So both products perform equally well as shear-wall components. This price spread means that a builder can save $700.00 on a 2,500 square foot house if osb is substituted for plywood sheathing on floors, walls, and roofs. I am putting up some shelves in the pantry; 24" deep, 36" long. Choosing building materials for a shelf is a simple task. This speaks volumes for the importance of protecting materials during transport, storage and early stages of construction. Many experts think the ban makes no sense. Plywood is so-called because it is made of thin layers of wood veneer or “plies.” These layers are glued together to achieve the desired thickness. Reply. The Structural Board Association (SBA), a trade association that represents osb manufacturers in North America, has issued a technical bulletin outlining a plan to prevent this phenomenon. Detractors of osb are quick to say: “osb falls apart”. Who knows? Possibly the scrap plywood (OSB or whatever I used for the shelves) I had laying around. in Building and Construction Technology, Minor in Building and Construction Technology, Graduate Studies: Sustainable Building Systems (M.S. Osb is engineered to have strength and stiffness equivalent to plywood. Perhaps thickness-swell will be included in future performance standards. Plywood suffered the same criticism not too long ago. Shear values, through its thickness, are about 2 times greater than plywood.This is one of the reasons osb is used for webs of wooden I-joists. OSBs are wood panels used as an alternative to plywood because they cost less than plywood and have greater uniformity and stiffness. The rigidity of plywood and composite wood can be improved by gluing on solid wood edges or plastic laminate faces (Fig. The adhesive used to bind these layers together is typically made of resin, the specifics which vary from one plywood to another. In the past we’ve heard that walls in many Southeastern homes covered with the Exterior Finish and Insulation System (EIFS) were rotting. However, ARMA, NRCA and representatives from at least 2 roofing manufacturers, Cellotex and TAMKO, prefer plywood roof decks. But right or wrong, a manufacturer’s support is often where the rubber meets the road. The wood used in plywood layers can also vary depending on the desired characteristics of the final product. Enter your email address to subscribe to our news and receive notifications. All manufacturers of siding products I contacted agree that osb and plywood are equals. Both materials are installed on roofs, walls and floors using one set of recommendations. I always thought OSB was not stiff enough for shelves, but these seem to be doing just fine. Compared to CDX, oriented strand board (OSB) is made very differently. And wood scientists agree that the structural performance of osb and plywood are equivalent. Wood fiber is used more efficiently in osb. Louisiana-Pacific’s osb inner-seal siding also made the news. Waferboard, a weaker and less-stiff cousin of osb, is a homogeneous, random composition. This strategy makes plywood stable and less likely to shrink, swell, cup or warp. All wood products expand when they get wet. It has to do with thickness swell. Manufactures feel more comfortable guaranteeing their products when they are installed over plywood. Many of the western woods used to manufacture plywood at least have moderate decay resistance. (and stayed swollen), while the plywood … The existing shelves are OSB. Wood species has a significant impact. Certain grades of plywood may be more susceptible to moisture, and less expensive veneers can have inconsistencies in the surface due to knots in the wood. Osb is so visually striking that customers need a technical explanation about this material from their builders. Both products serve equally well as a nailbase.”. Mark Graham, NRCA’s associate director of technical services says, “We hear a lot of complaints related to dimensional stability. It is highly versatile. Customers become suspicious that builders are trying to put something over on them: charging for an expensive product like plywood and substituting it with something cheap, like osb. I would use solid hard maple for the shelves, and put a 1/4 plywood … You can find it in most sizes, some larger than plywood… Plywood is made from thin sheets of veneer that are cross-laminated and glued together with a hot-press. When osb is exposed to wet conditions, it expands faster around the perimeter of the panel than it does in the middle. Plywood and MDF are useful materials for many DIY projects around the home. Market data show that conversion from plywood to osb among builders is irregular, but clearly moving toward osb and away from plywood. Manufacturers of oriented strandboard and plywood claim both products work well. Both shelf units were 8 feet long and 18 inches deep. So we are a little bit cautious.” Grahm also acknowledges that APA, an organization he clearly respects, is standing firmly behind the osb product. One thing is certain: osb is in our future. … Wall sheathing: No news is good news. Statistically, 5/8-inch plywood and 3/4-inch osb worked the same. Customers don’t want technical explanations about many things. It should. OSB (Oriented Strand Board) and particleboard are two different types of manufactured wood products. plywood. In the late 1960’s advances in adhesive technology brought southern pine plywood to residential builders. Osb and plywood are equals structurally, but flooring manufacturers make different recommendations regarding their use as a substrate. You may get 4 veneers of earlywood stacked above 1 veneer of latewood. We do it quite often. We recommend our users to update the browser. Home House & Components Parts of House Walls, By the DIY experts of The Family Handyman Magazine. how to make floating shelves out of plywood Once your hidden supports are installed its time to make the actual shelves. Nail-holding and racking resistance are the same.” Chung has noticed some concern about the use of osb among builders, but is quick to add, “There is no reason for any concern. Delaminations were routine until waterproof synthetic resins were developed during world war II. Plywood long ago lost its market leadership to oriented strand board (OSB), which is now the most-used sheathing and subflooring material. He built several full-sized floors out of boards, plywood and osb and weathered them for 5 weeks before installing hardwood flooring. But builders and consultants involved in this case think the material doesn’t work in permanently exposed applications. However, they have received complaints of edge swelling that has telegraphed through their flooring products. oriented strand board (OSB board) that soaked in my bathtub overnight swelled almost 1/4 in. I used a 2x2" cleat on the wall and a 2x3" for the front horizontal support with 1 2x4" in the center. Dried strands are mixed with wax and adhesive, formed into thick mats, and then hot-pressed into panels. Both are very moist climates. But two significant observations were made during the study: Some of the plywood delaminated during the weathering experiment and new patches had to be spliced into the subfloor system. Osb products will improve. Even the storage recommendations are the same: keep panels off of the ground and protected from weather. They typically don’t want to know what weight roof shingle you are using; or even what depth floor joist you have speced. Model building codes typically use the phrase “wood structural panel” to describe the use of plywood and osb. The question is what is osb? With the center support, it will be like having shorter shelves without the center plywood divider. Plywood vs. OSB: Which is Better? The study showed that solid boards installed at a diagonal were far and away the best system. It is more costly than the garden variety osb product. Osb, on average, is 7% less stiff because it stays closer to its target spec. It takes longer for water to soak osb and conversely, once water gets into osb it is very slow to leave. Osb is perhaps 50 strands thick, so its characteristics are averaged out over many more “layers” than plywood. The strands in osb are aligned. Cabinetry, furniture, and smaller decorative projects might generally use a combination of 1/2 and 3/4 and occasionally 1/4 inch. The most common size used in shelving is a 3/4 inch thickness. The results of another independent study conducted by Raymond LaTona at the Weyerhauser Technology Center in Tacoma also showed that withdrawal strengths in osb and plywood are the same. The trend among builders is to switch to osb. For shelves and cabinets: Plywood comes in many different textures and styles. Plywood is available in various thicknesses with ½\" being the most popular for general construction. Research conducted by APA, Chow, LaTona and others have conclusively proven osb seaworthy. LP said the problems were caused by improper installation. To my knowledge, there has not been a problem of similar scale associated with plywood siding. and Ph.D.), Wood Engineering and Bio-Based Building Materials Specialization, Building Science and Green Building Specialization, UWW Professional Education and Online Courses, Certificate in Sustainable Building Construction, BCT Professional Masters Info Session, 2-17, Tedd Benson speaks about a better way to build in the 21st Century, Heidi Jandris speaks about lowering the embodied carbon of concrete masonry units. Some information contained in it may be outdated. Production in the future will reflect market needs. The weights of osb and plywood are similar: 7/16-inch osb and 1/2-inch plywood weigh in at 46 and 48 pounds. Like it or not, osb will define the future of the structural sheathing market. In this example we made two shelf units in an L shape. OSB stands for Oriented Strand … Plywood is an engineered wood from the manufactured boards family, which also includes particle board and oriented strand board (OSB). OSB is made of many smaller pieces of hardwood and softwood mixed together in strands. And a disproportionate number are related to osb. But the reality is that builders don’t limit osb use to full-sized sheets. The edges of the 1/2-in. We form the layers by shredding wood and … Any shelf over 34", we laminate 2 layers of 3/4 ply and use 1 1/2" shelf nosing. They feel that if osb gets wet, it transfers stress and causes the tile to fail. This plywood, like all structural plywood made until the mid 1930’s, was bonded with non-waterproof blood and soybean glue. Because of this manufacturing process, OSB … Products like AdvanTech by Huber Engineered Woods (http://huberwood.com/)  is an example of a premium osb product line. Imagine the raw log as a pencil being sharpened in a big pencil sharpener. Technology involving the random alignment of wood-fiber in waferboard soon gave way to the development of structurally superior oriented strandboard. Rigid foam insulation was applied over osb and coated with a stucco-like covering. UMass Amherst | Department of Environmental Conservation, Home > Publications > Articles > Choosing Between Oriented Strandboard and Plywood. This career fair is free and open to[...], Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), The John W. Olver Design Building at UMass Amherst, Design Building Virtual Construction Site Visit, Undergraduate Major: B.S. So both products perform equally well as shear-wall … So store your OSB wood in a dry place, then cover it with tarpaper or siding ASAP to protect it from the elements. OSB is now used for about 70 percent of all floor, wall and roof sheathing in North America. The lesson? OSB offers you a consistent density. They can build panels to resist high relative humidity, deliver more strength, or provide a harder surface. Builders need assurance from manufacturers that new products will work. intervals so you know where underlying studs, rafters and joists are for nailing. Damage to roofs during hurricane Andrew were originally blamed on osb’s poor nail-holding power. OSB Vs Plywood. “Strand plies” are positioned as alternating layers that run perpendicular to each other. The technical fix for delamination was inspired by the 1950’s housing boom. You never have a soft spot in the panel because 2 knot holes overlap. It is truly an engineered material. The shelves … Don’t mistake osb for chipboard or waferboard. Here's a rundown of the advantages and disadvantages of each. The issue for most builders who choose between plywood and osb is durability. Each of these shelves is the same thickness, length and width. OSB panels often have lines at 16- and 24-in. Not only does this ma… And oddly, plywood is perceived as solid wood to a lay person. Chow found that in both dry and 6-cycle aged tests: osb and waferboard performed equal to or better than CD-grade plywood. Today, southern pine plywood accounts for about half of all structural plywood sold. OSB sheathing has one irritating characteristic—but only if you abuse the stuff. D: Strengthening Plywood and Composite Shelves. oriented strand board (OSB board) that soaked in my bathtub overnight swelled almost 1/4 in. Logs are ground into thin wood strands to produce oriented strandboard. Warranties on shingles are extended to both substrates, but manufactures feel more comfortable with plywood. Irreversible edge swelling has been the biggest knock on osb. For example: Most do not want to know how blown-in fiberglass insulation performs differently than batt insulation. The uninitiated don’t appreciate the high-level of science and technology used to produce engineered wood products. It becomes a question of cost vs performance and we will dictate the final product. There is always an odd number of layers in plywood panels so that the panel is balanced around its central axis. Plywood has a broader range of variability. Plywood i… It’s been a few years since that project so I don’t remember what factors went in to my choice for shelf width. A plywood subfloor generally uses 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch-thick sheets of plywood that have one rough side (which faces down) and one smooth side, … Plywood, on the other hand, needs to be covered by a decorative material such as veneer in order to appear pleasing to the eye. Osb has earned its reputation as a low-cost substitute for plywood. This results in ridges that can “telegraph” through shingles, and even carpet when OSB sheathing is used for subfloors. I recently used them to build shelves … On the plus side, osb is a more consistent product. In 2001, oriented strand board surpassed plywood in terms of square footage produced. The Resilient Floor Covering Institute, a trade association that represents manufacturers of vinyl sheet-flooring and tiles, also puts the nix on osb. When the exterior foam boards were removed, wet, rotted, crumbling osb was exposed. While plywood is often 6 feet per sheet, OSB … Like-thicknesses of these two products can span the same distances between studs or rafters, weigh about the same and offer similar nail-holding abilities. The NOFA recommendation is based on research conducted by Joe Loferski at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA. However, nail-holding ability controls performance in shear wall applications. When deciding how to finish your plywood shelf … But, while the two products may perform the same structurally, they are undeniably different materials. On the other hand, OSB does not have a top … RFCI installation specifications recommend plywood as an underlayment material. Osb is consistently stiff. Shear values, through its thickness, are about 2 times greater than plywood.This is one of the reasons osb is used for webs of wooden I-joists. Finished floor systems were cycled in an environmental chamber to simulate the changes that occur in summer and winter months. Most plywood panels are overbuilt to cover the statistical range that guarantees each sheet of plywood meets the minimum standard. Although oriented strand board (OSB) has a commanding 75% market share in sheathing for new home construction compared to plywood’s 25%, it’s a much more competitive race in subflooring. Suggested Post: MDF vs. Plywood vs. OSB has its advantages. They share the same set of performance standards and span ratings. Another homeowner asked, ” What the hell is going on? Dade’s banning of osb spawned several research initiatives to explore the suitability of osb as a structural sheathing. Elmendorf Manufacturing Company made the first osb in Clairmont, NH just 14 years ago. Each 8 foot shelf … In his study, Loferski simulated what happens on a real construction site. It is made from thin sheets of veneer peeled from debarked wood. Not many builders share that view today. there are 50" circular saw cutting guides that clamp across plywood for such tasks. Please note: This older article by our former faculty member remains available on our site for archival purposes. Subfloors and underlayments serve as structural platforms and as a base for flooring products. They are known as wood structural panels. Osb looks like, and is, a bunch of wood chips glued together. Plywood is manufactured from thin layers of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers, having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. This opinion has a familiar tone. Delamination of early plywood sheathings gave plywood a bad name. (and stayed swollen), while the plywood remained stable. Reports indicate that some homeowners worry about builders “cheaping out” when they use osb. All cases I’m familiar with were caused by improper installation of flashing or protective coverings. However, 3/4-inch Sturd-I-Floor plywood weighs 70 pounds, 10 pounds less than its osb counterpart. Throughout the thickness of the panel, the grain of each layer is positioned in a perpendicular direction to the adjacent layer. The bottom line: The type of project will guide your decision, MDF vs. plywood. Manufacturers are not always right. Performance is similar in many ways, but there are differences in the service provided by osb and plywood. Osb and plywood share the same exposure durability classifications: Interior, Exposure 1 (95% of all structural panels), Exposure 2 and Exterior. Don’t store OSB in a full bathtub. The problem really isn’t osb’s fault. A bumper crop of news stories highlighting contractor ripoffs has left consumers reeling. Homeowners expect builders to select materials and systems that perform well. Portland Manufacturing Company made the first structural plywood from western woods in 1905. Osb is stronger than plywood in shear. Here is what the finished product looks like…hopefully having this … The boards are made of layers of wood strands coated with resin and … I was planning on buying 3/4" plywood, but the reviews on it at Lowes (the only place locally to buy plywood) are terrible. Kevin Chung, Engineer with Western Wood Products Association in Seattle assures us, “There have been no problems reported from the field. Also, researchers learned that the best floor of all was the control specimen, which had been protected from any weathering. Sheets of OSB or plywood usually come 4 feet wide and 8 feet long, so each sheet of OSB made 2 shelves. Osb, in its current state of development, is more sensitive to moist conditions. This means it can be employed for exterior use such as cabinets and shelves. The National Oak Flooring Association (NOFA) in Memphis recommends either 5/8-inch and thicker plywood, 3/4-inch osb or 1-x6-inch dense, group1 softwood boards installed at a diagonal under hardwood flooring. We'll help you find the right plywood for you. Osb is unceremoniously pushing plywood aside as the structural panel of choice. Installation requirements prescribing the use of H-clips on roofs, blocking on floors and allowance of single-layer floor systems are identical. The edges tend to swell when they get wet and remain swollen even after drying out. Plywood, although not immune, is somewhat forgiving. A builder’s reputation often hangs on the ability of new technology to deliver on its promise. Like particle board and MDF, OSB comes from wood shavings. LP settled a class action suit in 1995 to the tune of $350 million. In our area, 1/2-in. Although oriented stranded board (OSB) has similar uses to plywood, it has a much coarser finish. Kept high and dry during storage and after installation, OSB has the same strength and durability as plywood but costs less. Unlike OSB, plywood has been developed into different types over the years in different ways to be used for different purposes. SBA correctly indicates that dry storage, proper installation, adequate roof ventilation and application of a warm-side vapor barrier will help prevent roof ridging. Thanks for these plans! UMass Shortcuts: Email Moodle Spire WVD ODB260 Remote Access Online Storage IT Support, Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Click to[...], The Building and Construction Technology program and our student groups (NAHB, UMGBC) are organizing this career fair for jobs in construction, project management, green building, materials, building systems, and related fields. The solid wood shelf holds up four times the weight of the plain particleboard shelf. Many “old-timers” swore by solid board sheathing until the day they hung up their aprons. We are no longer supporting IE (Internet Explorer) as we strive to provide site experiences for browsers that support new web standards and security practices. I wanted plywood but I decided to save a little bit of money and go with OSB while standing in the store. MacMillan Bloedel opened the first viable waferboard facility at Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan in 1963. Estimates put its … Check out the differences between oriented-strand board and plywood. Aren’t there any more trees?” Public perception is that we are getting stuck with scraps. OSB sheathing costs a few dollars less per sheet than 1/2-in. Particle Board. Osb is stronger than plywood in shear. A substantial savings to be sure. Osb manufacturers can formulate their process to provide virtually any property they want. Osb is acceptable as a subfloor material. For example: Marine plywood is more moisture resistant than standard plywood… When it comes to structural integrity, cost is less of an issue among consumers than structural performance. Exterior plywood used the traditional grading system but uses the letter “X” to indicate it was made with exterior glue. However, if the nails are too thick, they will splinter, damaging the wood. I used 5/8" osb in my garage. Laminated plywood is fine, just more expensive and will show stains quicker than osb from all the oils and … Finishing plywood for shelves. Dade’s position is perceived by many industry insiders to be a political maneuver to satisfy public concern.