Osb Vs Plywood For Shed Roof

Even though plywood is more expensive and osb stronger my recommendation for a shed roof is 5 8 or 3 4 construction grade exterior rated cdx t g plywood.

Osb vs plywood for shed roof.

Osb is made by combining glue resin and wood chips and pressing them into the shape of a plywood sheet then baking everything together. Secondly osb panels have a higher shear rating than plywood panels and are thus often installed with greater spans than plywood of the same thickness. 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. However you might find that osb can better suit your needs than plywood for the roof.

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. Building codes the engineered wood association architects and most builders rate plywood and oriented strand board obs sheathing equal in strength and durability. 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 is now used for about 70 percent of all floor wall and roof sheathing in north america.

In 2001 oriented strand board surpassed plywood in terms of square footage produced. University of massachusetts meets most building codes for roof and wall sheathing. Because of its construction some manufacturers actually make larger sheets of osb. Plywood is better than osb for subfloors.

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. Both cdx plywood and osb tend to come in standard sheets of four foot by eight foot 4 8. Osb boasts a more consistent density.

The lower the slope the more weight for snow load but less wind force. 2x greater shear strength than similar sized plywood source. Compared to cdx oriented strand board osb is made very differently. 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.