Is Osb Plywood Good For Roofing

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.

Is osb plywood good for roofing.

It has been estimated that osb has a stronghold of of the market share mainly because it s the more affordable option. Typical types of wood used for roof sheathing are oriented strand board known as osb and plywood the most popular being osb. With edge support and the same snow load 3 8 inch osb can be used. There is no question that plywood is better then osb.

While plywood remains a good and viable option the fact remains that osb is now the preferred choice. We form the layers by shredding wood and then joining them together with adhesive. They work equally well for these uses are just as easy to drill into and have equivalent ability to hold nails. 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.

Although oriented stranded board osb has similar uses to plywood it has a much coarser finish. 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. Plywood holds nails or staples much better. Like particle board and mdf osb comes from wood shavings.

Sheets of 7 16 inch thick with no edge support can be used in an area where the snow load is 30 pounds per square foot. Plywood is better than osb for subfloors. But still no one will blame you if you choose plywood over osb. Use 5 8 inch c c pts grade for your overhangs and 5 8 inch cdx for the rest.

New homes will usually see a few rainfalls before a roof is on and as noted above osb doesn t handle moisture well. Just make sure it is exterior grade ply so it will not delaminate if it gets wet. Despite its common use as such we don t recommend using osb for subfloors but that s really just for aesthetic reasons. 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.

University of massachusetts meets most building codes for roof and wall sheathing. When used as a roof sheathing this tendency to hold moisture means it can degrade faster than plywood when exposed to chronic leaks. However with osb the layers are more cross oriented. Both plywood and osb are used for sheathing roofs walls and subfloors.