“In the olden days” houses were built using solid wood for sheathing on the exterior walls, floors and roofs. In some cases it was installed diagonally on the floor and walls to provide stronger structural support. In later period solid wood was used to build the forms concrete foundations. Of course in modern time solid wood is only used in the structural component of home construction and even at that solid wood is being replaced by metal and engineered structural components.

Plywood came about during world war two and was used widely in boat constructive such as LST’s and aircraft wings. It was strong, cheaper than aluminum and relatively light weight. After the war plywood was introduced into the building construction industry. Again it was cheaper and stronger than regular wood. In addition, plywood could be manufactured from wood waste products.

Plywood comes in many different sizes and types and is made from different tree material. Finished plywood has a top laminated layer that can be nearly any type of wood desired. Although regular plywood was used in house construction sheathing for floors, exterior walls and roofs it was quickly replaced by OSB plywood (oriented strand board). OSB plywood is actually fiberboard sheathing.

OSB has now become the mainstay material to cover exterior wall studs, floors and roof sheathing. Regular plywood is hardly used at all in home construction except for finished carpentry and cabinet making.

OSB fiberboard sheathing used in home construction is a structural material. When the sheathing is attached to wall studs it prevents the walls from racking from side to side. It eliminated the need for wind bracing. The down side of OSB sheathing is that when it gets wet it will deteriorate rapidly, much more quickly than regular solid wood. That is why the exterior of homes wrapped with a protective barrier on the outside walls and water proofing in installed on the roofs before the shingle are installed.

OSB is available for wall and roof sheathing that eliminates the need for house wrap. It comes from the factory with a plastic coating that repels water. The seams are tapped while the wall is being constructed. This new OSB sheathing can save money and time because you effectively skip the house wrap step in the current method of building.

Related Subjects:

Framing a Finished Basement

Framing Walls | Wall Framing Layout

House Framing Tips

House Sheathing

House Siding Choices