Osb Versus Plywood For Roof Decking

As a homeowner if you find yourself in this position know that when you install a new decking system you will have to decide between using plywood or osb.

Osb versus plywood for roof decking. Many contractors will use osb for roofing and subfloors. Estimates put its market share as high as 75 with much of that dominance thanks to cost conscious production builders. At face value you might think that both materials seem the same. Plywood long ago lost its market leadership to oriented strand board osb which is now the most used sheathing and subflooring material.

According to dmitry lipinskiy owner of roofing insights there is a 5 chance that older homes will need a completely new decking system when their roofs are repaired. Cdx plywood for the roof. Building codes the engineered wood association architects and most builders rate plywood and oriented strand board obs sheathing equal in strength and durability. Osb v plywood which is best.

Cost of plywood vs osb. In 2001 oriented strand board surpassed plywood in terms of square footage produced. Because the adhesive and resin make it more difficult to absorb water osb is less likely to expand and contract with exposure to moisture. Home osb is about 700 less expensive compared with plywood if used as the subfloor sheathing and roof decking.

There are even variants of osb that come with building wrap already in place so installation is as easy as taping the seams together. Odds are that if you pass a housing development of wood framed houses it will have osb oriented strand board as exterior sheathing. While some people do prefer to go with traditional plywood many construction experts make the argument that osb is better for roofing. Up until 2000 plywood held the majority of the market for wall roof and floor sheathing when it was surpassed by osb which as of 2018 held about 75 of the market share.

Osb is much more waterproof than plywood and cdx plywood. For a typical 2 400 sq. One of the nice things about plywood is the variety of options you can buy. Plywood is made with an odd number of layers for optimal strength and performance.

You can buy it per sheet use it for sheathing and more. We specialize in solutions with long lasting benefits for your home and family because we care about your well being. Challenge we ll put the oriented stand board osb and plywood against each other. When you count sub floors roofs and wall sheathing osb claims about 70 of the wood sheathing market in north america over plywood.

When building a house osb makes for excellent sheathing. Should they go with osb vs.