Roof Plywood Or Osb

Osb boasts a more consistent density.

Roof plywood or osb.

Find the area of a roof. For plywood it is like 5 to 10 more expensive. It s a top choice because of its characteristic wherein it expands evenly when exposed to water unlike osb wherein only the edges expand. Because of this manufacturing process osb is at least half the cost of cdx plywood.

It is generally believed that osb is cheaper than plywood. New homes will usually see a few rainfalls before a roof is on and as noted above osb doesn t handle moisture well. Once the area is known divide by the area of a 4 8 sheet to find how much sheathing is needed. Because of its construction some manufacturers actually make larger sheets of osb.

However you might find that osb can better suit your needs than plywood for the 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. 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. A few other downsides to plywood.

Speaking of osb it s a top choice of homeowners looking for something more affordable than plywood. It becomes soft and weak when it delaminates. 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. Plywood is made out of laminated sheets of veneer.

Multiply the length of the roof in feet by the width of the roof in feet to find the area of the roof in square feet. Unfortunately an osb is less resistant to water compared to plywood. When it gets wet the sheathing could swell and thicken up because of the moisture. 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.

This is one of the reasons why some people prefer using plywood for their roof or subfloor. Thankfully there are osb materials today that are designed to be moisture resistant. Talking about plywood or osb for roofing you cannot miss the information of the cost. To find the amount of plywood needed to cover a roof start by finding the area of the roof.

Both osb and plywood absolutely hate water lipinskiy mentions going on to say that the most important part regardless of which decking option you choose is that all penetration points on a roof are sealed. It is true as the price of every osb board is around 15 20 per sheet 4 8 sizes. Despite its common use as such we don t recommend using osb for subfloors but that s really just for aesthetic reasons.