How does Plywood Compare with OSB?
Manufacturers of oriented strand board (OSB) and plywood claim both products work well. The issue for most builders who choose between plywood and OSB is durability. OSB looks like “a bunch of wood chips glued together”. Detractors are quick to say, “OSB falls apart”. This opinion has a familiar tone. Plywood suffered the same criticism not too long ago. Delamination of early plywood sheathings gave plywood a bad name. Not many builders share that view today. All model building codes use the phrase “wood structural panel” to describe the use of plywood and OSB. Codes recognize these two materials as the same. Likewise, the Engineered Wood Association, the U.S. agency responsible for approving more than 75% of the structural panels used in residential construction, treat OSB and plywood as equals in their published performance guidelines. And wood scientists agree that the structural performance of OSB and plywood are equivalent under controlled, dry conditions. There really is little e
