Osb Vs Plywood Subfloor Hardwood Floors

Osb stands for oriented strand board.

Osb vs plywood subfloor hardwood floors. The subfloor is the decking installed on top of flooring joists. Of the two most common subfloor materials builders often debate which is best. Plywood is familiar to most people it is a sheet material made from layers of wood oriented in opposite directions from layer to layer. Osb oriented strand board is a different form of sheet material.

To summarize here is a reference for floor materials and subfloors to be used at your house. Osb has the appearance of giant cornflakes pressed together to form structural panels in sizes similar to plywood such as 4 x 8 x 5 8. The finished floor is then installed on top of the subfloor. We ve got the details on plywood vs osb and enhanced options in each.

For joists spaced more than 19 2 inches on center the minimum thickness for plywood is 7 8 inch and for osb 1 inch. Density consistency a sheet of plywood. The thickness of plywood panels in a subfloor is regulated by the. The biggest complaint against osb is that it doesn t handle moisture very well so it is more suited for indoor use.

Protect your floors from water damage by starting with the right subfloor products. Plywood diffen home improvement while osb oriented strand board is generally cheaper than plywood it is heavier and not as stiff as plywood and can result in soft squeaky floors under weight. While plywood is made of thin layers of wood sandwiched together with adhesive osb consists of small wood chips and particles glued together and pressed into a panel form according to the tile council of north america. For joist spacing of more than 16 inches up to 19 2 inches on center the minimum thickness for both plywood and osb is 3 4 inch.