Posted: 12/16/2010 11:07:46 AM EDT
| is this stuff legit for roofing? HD told me this was the standard nowadays but my pops freaked out when I brought it home for use on my small building project. I want the building to last so just wondering what ya'll think? |
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My new house (and all other new houses in the area) are decked with OSB. Works fine.
I think the old OSB was crappy but the stuff sold now is pretty good. Some people think that OSB is better for decking and sheathing over plywood. I'm not sure which is better but I'm happy with it. |
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My new house (and all other new houses in the area) are decked with OSB. Works fine. I think the old OSB was crappy but the stuff sold now is pretty good. Some people think that OSB is better for decking and sheathing over plywood. I'm not sure which is better but I'm happy with it. If you want to know which is best OSB or Plywood take a piece of both the same size and break it in half the Plywood will be the harder of the two to break every time. |
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My new house (and all other new houses in the area) are decked with OSB. Works fine. I think the old OSB was crappy but the stuff sold now is pretty good. Some people think that OSB is better for decking and sheathing over plywood. I'm not sure which is better but I'm happy with it. If you want to know which is best OSB or Plywood take a piece of both the same size and break it in half the Plywood will be the harder of the two to break every time. Try to tear it apart. See which one is different. |
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OSB is much more stable and made up of around 30-40+ layers of wood strands adhered with wax and binders together. Plywood is typically 5 or 6 continuous layers. You won't have the soft spots that happen with plywood because of the way it is made, and it has a higher shear strength and it is less expensive. This makes it a superior product for many applications, But with roofs (and all applications), if it is exposed to excessive moisture, the edges tend to swell. It won't happen on a properly installed roof that is in good working order, but if there is a problem, often it is easy to see along the edges of sheets. Combine the swelling with an entry point for water and the recipe can be damn compound. With plywood, if it gets wet, it swells and shrinks evenly. Plywood is made of continuous layers of wood glued on top of each other. Each layer has it's grain oriented in a different direction. With moisture, you end up with delamination, and soft spots. Roofing manufacturers are often times more likely to offer warranties for ply because, honestly, poor installation results in fewer claims. With the above facts in mind, how many layers of wood would you want your nail embedded in? Hand driven is not near as strong. The biggest difference that needs to be addressed, in this thread, is duration. Which one can take on water longer without showing problems?? OSB can take repeated (limited) water exposure better than plywood because of the differences in makeup, assuming each are allowed to dry out and neither get over exposed. But, in cases of excessive water exposure/contamination, plywood tends to maintain its structural integrity (fastener retention, shear strength, etc) much better than OSB. |
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My new house (and all other new houses in the area) are decked with OSB. Works fine. I think the old OSB was crappy but the stuff sold now is pretty good. Some people think that OSB is better for decking and sheathing over plywood. I'm not sure which is better but I'm happy with it. If you want to know which is best OSB or Plywood take a piece of both the same size and break it in half the Plywood will be the harder of the two to break every time. Try to tear it apart. See which one is different. Quoted:
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My new house (and all other new houses in the area) are decked with OSB. Works fine. I think the old OSB was crappy but the stuff sold now is pretty good. Some people think that OSB is better for decking and sheathing over plywood. I'm not sure which is better but I'm happy with it. If you want to know which is best OSB or Plywood take a piece of both the same size and break it in half the Plywood will be the harder of the two to break every time. well, I tried to break off a peice of each and failed to damage either but I was able to tear both of them completely in half, by hand. Now what? |
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Quoted: is this stuff legit for roofing? HD told me this was the standard nowadays but my pops freaked out when I brought it home for use on my small building project. I want the building to last so just wondering what ya'll think? OSB will die when wet. Keep it dry, and you'll be fine. |
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There is also a coated OSB that is installed like usual and then the seams are taped. Doesn't need house wrap because the sheets are extremely water resistant.
Neat stuff. While there are some major differences, the best subfloor out there is Advantech and it's an OSB. |
| This summer i used 4 ply 1/2 in cdx plywood. Rafters 16in o.c. This stuff was pretty flimsy. I would suggest 5/8 or 3/4 plywood. The osb seems a little scary to me unless you are building in a dry climate. Lumber is not cheap. Be sure to look at all your material before you start. With all the lumber yards that have gone and others going out of business the lumber you buy today may have been stored since this recession started. No big deal if it is stored correctly but otherwise it could be a problem. A good commmercial lumber yard i used dropped 40 2X12s and 20 of them went right back on the truck. They replaced them no problem.I tried to buy my material at the local menards i went through 2 full bunks of 2X12s 3 2X12s were good the others mildewy, cracked, ugly. Refund. The commercial yard actually beat the menards price. This is only my opinion and good luck with your project. |
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This summer i used 4 ply 1/2 in cdx plywood. Rafters 16in o.c. This stuff was pretty flimsy. I would suggest 5/8 or 3/4 plywood. The osb seems a little scary to me unless you are building in a dry climate. Lumber is not cheap. Be sure to look at all your material before you start. With all the lumber yards that have gone and others going out of business the lumber you buy today may have been stored since this recession started. No big deal if it is stored correctly but otherwise it could be a problem. A good commmercial lumber yard i used dropped 40 2X12s and 20 of them went right back on the truck. They replaced them no problem.I tried to buy my material at the local menards i went through 2 full bunks of 2X12s 3 2X12s were good the others mildewy, cracked, ugly. Refund. The commercial yard actually beat the menards price. This is only my opinion and good luck with your project. Good point about the stock. We go thru so much lumber at my store that we allways have fresh stock with weekly deliveries. |
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There is also a coated OSB that is installed like usual and then the seams are taped. Doesn't need house wrap because the sheets are extremely water resistant. Neat stuff. That stuff is called ZipWall and ZipRoof. Each product is specific to it's application. Once the seams are ZipTaped there is no need for housewrap on the walls or felt paper on the roof. |
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There is also a coated OSB that is installed like usual and then the seams are taped. Doesn't need house wrap because the sheets are extremely water resistant. Neat stuff. That stuff is called ZipWall and ZipRoof. Each product is specific to it's application. Once the seams are ZipTaped there is no need for housewrap on the walls or felt paper on the roof. Thanks. I couldn't remember the name. If I had known about it before I built my current house, I would have used that. More energy efficient IMO. |
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Been building and repairing homes since the 80s. If I was building a house for myself, I'd do the research, but I can almost guarantee that I'd be using plywood.
Advantech OSB has its points, but I've seen too many failures with OSB to completely trust it. That being said, today's plywood can't hold a candle to the ply of even 25 years ago. ETA: You'll never catch me not using housewrap or tarpaper on a new build or remodel. FHA hasn't required felt on roofs for a long time, doesn't mean it's a good idea to leave it off. |
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attatch OSB to roof joist with staples;
we use it for interior sheathing (nailed) on the interior of houses we build in Mexico for familes that would not take care of a sheetrocked house; OSB is harder to punch holes in. but like I always tell folks, buy the best you can afford; OSB is used mainly for the price |
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I cannot speak for the use of OSB in TX. It is used frequently in the NE and in Canada. HOWEVER, remember that building codes are MINIMUM STANDARDS. Some people say "Well, it meets code!" as if that was some sort of endorsement. Do you really want a minimum spec anything?
In my experience OSB will hold your shingles on okay. However, if you are using trusses on 24 inch centers, you can expect the following: Within 24 months you will see a noticeable wave in your roof. It may be structurally 'acceptable' but the osb will bow inwards at the center point between each 24" span between trusses. If you are okay with that sort of performance, you are good to go. Would I use OSB to roof small projects? (Ex: My deer blind, a small garden shed, etc) Probably. If it had a decent 4/12 pitch or better. Would I use it on my home or a larger structure (Ex: The 3 car garage I built)? Nope. No chance. Then again, most things in that garage are 'better than code". Fro |
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Interesting, I honestly never realized people used anything other than 7/16s OSB for roofs and walls. I can't speak for anywhere other than the area I'm familiar with (East TN), but OSB around here is probably around a 1/3 of what 3/4" plywood costs which is what I imagine the minimum would be for roofs I suppose you could probably just go 1/2" for walls. I'm in the process of helping a friends build his garage/shop and it would be a pretty significant increase in cost for seemingly not much more in performance imo... |
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I cannot speak for the use of OSB in TX. It is used frequently in the NE and in Canada. HOWEVER, remember that building codes are MINIMUM STANDARDS. Some people say "Well, it meets code!" as if that was some sort of endorsement. Do you really want a minimum spec anything? In my experience OSB will hold your shingles on okay. However, if you are using trusses on 24 inch centers, you can expect the following: Within 24 months you will see a noticeable wave in your roof. It may be structurally 'acceptable' but the osb will bow inwards at the center point between each 24" span between trusses. If you are okay with that sort of performance, you are good to go. Would I use OSB to roof small projects? (Ex: My deer blind, a small garden shed, etc) Probably. If it had a decent 4/12 pitch or better. Would I use it on my home or a larger structure (Ex: The 3 car garage I built)? Nope. No chance. Then again, most things in that garage are 'better than code". Fro If you go with 24 in centers for the roof, you are gonna have a wavy roof no matter what you do. I wouldn't do anything other than 16 inch centers for a roof with OSB or plywood decking. |
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I am partialy for advantech, but that is mostly because I work with timber of which alot ends up at one of their mills...
100 truckloads a day of timber goes into that place 
some videos from advantechs website Jump test |