It has always been our standard to use real plywood instead of OSB in our building. I have heard opposition from people who use OSB because, from what I hear, it may be easier to work with. Who knows.. my framing experience pretty much ended with a telephone book holder I made back in 8th grade woodshop class.
Now, we are not claiming to be experts in regard to plywood vs OSB. The owner let's just call him "my dad" framed with it back when he started and the believes it is a better product. Well, last week he found 2 pieces of 1/4" sheets of wood in the scrap pile out back. It just so happens that one happened to be plywood and the other OSB. Both sheets had been left out in the rain, sun, and snow of last year. I thought would just share with you what the same thickness of wood looked like after a year uncovered outdoors.
I believe the plywood held up a lot better than the OSB.
I found the following at http://www.pathnet.org/sp.asp?id=17336
ReplyDeleteOSB has some advantages over plywood:
OSB is generally more square and has smaller dimensional tolerances
It can be manufactured into panels of up to 8' x 24', far larger than plywood
There are no soft spots such as those that can occur in plywood
OSB is made from smaller (often farmed) trees reducing the demand for old growth timber
OSB has greater shear strength than plywood; the span rating, nail pull and screw hold are all roughly the same
It can be $3 to $5 a panel less expensive than plywood. For a typical 2400 square foot home, OSB will save about $700 if used as the subfloor, sheathing, and roof decking instead of plywood.
Erik Grendahl
www.grendahl.net