Osb Or Plywood For Roof

However you might find that osb can better suit your needs than plywood for the roof.

Osb or plywood for roof.

When it gets wet the sheathing could swell and thicken up because of the moisture. Osb boasts a more consistent density. This is one of the reasons why some people prefer using plywood for their roof or subfloor. Osb is made by combining glue resin and wood chips and pressing them into the shape of a plywood sheet then baking everything together.

Both cdx plywood and osb tend to come in standard sheets of four foot by eight foot 4 8. Despite also being susceptible to water damage lipinskiy says that. Thankfully there are osb materials today that are designed to be moisture resistant. While a sheet of plywood might be 5 to 7 plies thick a sheet of osb is made from as many as 50 strand layers packed and compressed into the same thickness.

Today you can find osb in thickness from 7 16 to 1 1 8 for different applications from roof wall subfloor i joists and everything between. It is often less expensive than cdx plywood because this manufacturing process doesn t require the same costly veneers found on the front and back of cdx plywood. For plywood it is like 5 to 10 more expensive. Despite its common use as such we don t recommend using osb for subfloors but that s really just for aesthetic reasons.

University of massachusetts meets most building codes for roof and wall sheathing. Unfortunately an osb is less resistant to water compared to plywood. 2x greater shear strength than similar sized plywood source. A few other downsides to plywood.

Plywood is better than osb for subfloors. Oriented strand board osb combines wood chips glue and resin into the shape of a sheet of plywood and bakes them together. Oriented strand board isn t plywood nor is it a type of particleboard fiberboard or wafer board and although it is a newcomer to a plywood dominated market its use for exterior sheathing is. Osb panels can be manufactured in lengths up to 16 feet or sometimes even higher while plywood is generally limited to 8 to 10 feet.

It is generally believed that osb is cheaper than plywood. It becomes soft and weak when it delaminates. Because of this manufacturing process osb is at least half the cost of cdx plywood. New homes will usually see a few rainfalls before a roof is on and as noted above osb doesn t handle moisture well.

Because of its construction some manufacturers actually make larger sheets of osb. It is true as the price of every osb board is around 15 20 per sheet 4 8 sizes. Talking about plywood or osb for roofing you cannot miss the information of the cost.