Is Osb Plywood Good For Roofing

When osb does get wet it also tends to swell along the edges and those edges stay swollen even after the material has dried out.

Is osb plywood good for roofing.

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. 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. But still no one will blame you if you choose plywood over osb. Typical types of wood used for roof sheathing are oriented strand board known as osb and plywood the most popular being osb.

While plywood remains a good and viable option the fact remains that osb is now the preferred choice. Like particle board and mdf osb comes from wood shavings. 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. When used as a roof sheathing this tendency to hold moisture means it can degrade faster than plywood when exposed to chronic leaks.

Osb takes longer to get wet than plywood but also takes longer to dry out. Although oriented stranded board osb has similar uses to plywood it has a much coarser finish. We form the layers by shredding wood and then joining them together with adhesive. Just make sure it is exterior grade ply so it will not delaminate if it gets wet.

2x greater shear strength than similar sized plywood source. 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. With edge support and the same snow load 3 8 inch osb can be used. New homes will usually see a few rainfalls before a roof is on and as noted above osb doesn t handle moisture well.

However with osb the layers are more cross oriented. Plywood holds nails or staples much better. There is no question that plywood is better then osb. Use 5 8 inch c c pts grade for your overhangs and 5 8 inch cdx for the rest.

They work equally well for these uses are just as easy to drill into and have equivalent ability to hold nails. University of massachusetts meets most building codes for roof and wall sheathing. Plywood is better than osb for subfloors. Despite its common use as such we don t recommend using osb for subfloors but that s really just for aesthetic reasons.