Problems with OSB?

18 years ago

The designer working on our house plans told us we should make sure the builder uses plywood instead of any engineered wood product. She said the professional literature is now revealing that Oriented Strand Board and other similar products are failing because of a problem with the glues used to bind the wood particles together.

Has anyone else heard about this?

Doing an Internet search yielded nothing when I attempted to verify this. She explained that it's not information which is outside the professional community yet.

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Comments (7)

bus_driver
18 years ago
Your designer is trying to transform a personal opinion into a widespread belief. The opinion is just a flight of fancy.
meldy_nva
18 years ago
Ask her for a copy of the written support of that opinion, and then verify the validity of any references! A comment in an article written ten years ago is not sufficient. There are many studies on the subject by both government and industrial, and IMHO I doubt that she will be able to support her statement. If she actually read that in some engineering literature, then the literature is available to the general public, even though you might have to get a copy from the Library of Congress. If she wishes to keep her literary source secret, you can still ask for actual references to any official study that supports her viewpoint. Just be sure to check that statements given are valid.

Note that even if she confused the "green" aspect of plywood/OSB glues, recent studies are now more in support of OSB.
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ccoombs1
18 years ago
I have never had a problem with OSB. In fact, I built a barn probably 15 years ago and sheathed it with 7/16" OSB. I intended to put siding on it some day....but never got around to it. That OSB has been exposed to the weather all these years and is still sound. You can flake off the top pieces, but the rest is still as strong and sound as it ever was. OSB is a very good product.
anitamacey
18 years ago
Go down to the local lumber yard and ask the manager. He will tell you the straight stuff. He can't afford to sell anything that will come back to bite him.

My plywood subfloor looks like crap compared to many OSB sub floors that I have installed that sat through a lot of rain totally uncovered.

I wouldn't want that designer specing my house.
galore2112
18 years ago
"plywood instead of any engineered wood product"

???

Plywood is also an engineered wood product. It is also glued together. Try soaking a standard sheet of plywood - it'll swell and disintegrate.
worthy
18 years ago
Perhaps she is referring to the Masonite settlement.

OSB is much more subject to swelling in wet conditions than plywood, though this doesn't affect structural strength. It is extremely rare to see OSB used here on roofs. Low-end builders use it for subfloors. I use OSB only as sheathing and on renos. Engineering studies show it is as resistant to nail head pullthrough as plywood.
Ron Natalie
18 years ago
My architect gives me a hard time because I keep referring to it as disoriented strand board.