Is Osb Better Than Plywood For Floors

When used beneath tile it can squeak when stepped on at best and at worst it may cause the grout 3 or tile itself to crack.

Is osb better than plywood for floors.

Plywood is an engineered wood that s made by gluing together thin layers of wood veneers. The sheets are generally 4 x 8 or 4 x 12 feet in size. Well each has their own strengths and weaknesses when used as exposed decking or subflooring. Plywood is better than osb for subfloors.

Osb is now used for about 70 percent of all floor wall and roof sheathing in north america. Building codes the engineered wood association architects and most builders rate plywood and oriented strand board obs sheathing equal in strength and durability. Estimates put its market share as high as 75 with much of that dominance thanks to cost conscious production builders. A plywood subfloor generally uses 1 2 inch to 3 4 inch thick sheets of plywood that have one rough side which faces down and one smooth side which faces up.

In 2001 oriented strand board surpassed plywood in terms of square footage produced. Osb is considered more structurally consistent than plywood. Which is the better option plywood vs. As a result osb floors are more likely to squeak due to floor movement cause hard floor surfaces to crack such as tile result in soft spongy floors cost of plywood vs osb.

Osb is cheaper than plywood by about 3 to 5 per panel. Osb flexes more 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. Prices for commodities like structural panels are.

While plywood has been a top choice among homeowners for furnishing home interiors a variety of alternatives have sprung up offering a cheaper price better appearance etc. For that reason plywood is usually the recommended substrate if a wood substrate is needed. However plywood subfloors are stiffer than osb by about 10. Although oriented strand board osb has a commanding 75 market share in sheathing for new home construction compared to plywood s 25 it s a much more competitive race in subflooring.

It s economical durable and can be used in a variety of ways including flooring paneling and furniture making. Plywood long ago lost its market leadership to oriented strand board osb which is now the most used sheathing and subflooring material. Osb oriented strand board. One of the nice things about plywood is the variety of options you can buy.