Osb Vs Plywood For Shed Roof

The higher the slope the more quickly the snow and rain will be shed but also the greater the wind force.

Osb vs plywood for shed roof.

New homes will usually see a few rainfalls before a roof is on and as noted above osb doesn t handle moisture well. University of massachusetts meets most building codes for roof and wall sheathing. 2x greater shear strength than similar sized plywood source. Because of its construction some manufacturers actually make larger sheets of osb.

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. 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. Building codes the engineered wood association architects and most builders rate plywood and oriented strand board obs sheathing equal in strength and durability. Both cdx plywood and osb tend to come in standard sheets of four foot by eight foot 4 8.

The lower the slope the more weight for snow load but less wind force. 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 is now used for about 70 percent of all floor wall and roof sheathing in north america. Osb boasts a more consistent density.

Osb is made by combining glue resin and wood chips and pressing them into the shape of a plywood sheet then baking everything together. Compared to cdx oriented strand board osb is made very differently. 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. Plywood is better than osb for subfloors.

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. 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. Despite its common use as such we don t recommend using osb for subfloors but that s really just for aesthetic reasons.