Should I rip out my OSB flooring?

[MotherJean]

Gypsi wrote: btw - is OSB chip board? Because I thought it was particle board.


Everyone I know calls it chip board. Particle board is made of sawdust. OSB is made of chips. The SB in OSB stands for "strand board," as in strands of wood chips glued, compressed, and kiln dried. With the addition of a vapor barrier, OSB can be used for exterior-type construction. Particle board, however, cannot be used outside. It simply swells up like a sponge and disintegrates in rain. The only reason I know any of this is because my father was a shareholder in our local plywood mill - worked there for 35 years. He had very little good to say about OSB except that it was cheap.

 

[907chicken]

Well I'm in the same boat! What should be used for flooring? I was just going to cover with linoleum but also come up the walls with it a few inches bathtub style.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

I'm using it in the interior of my coop. I'm priming it and putting on two coats of exterior paint. My friend, a fellow BYC'er, OSB on her livestock shelter. She's never painted it, it's 5 yrs. old, and it's fine. Of course, were in So. Cal where moisture is not much of an issue. I don't think I'd use it on the floor though. Better to remove it and use it for the roof.

 

[MalcolmR]

Thanks everyone for the many great tips! The consensus seems to be that it could be okay if I seal/paint it very well, and keep the moisture off it. I could easily do that for the top, and I was planning a linoleum cover anyway, but to get the underside (which may be even more important) means that I'll have to take it up anyway. So I'll replace it with good plywood (which I will lather in polyurethane or something before I lay it anyway), and use my OSB for the roof.

Once again, many many thanks for all the comments. This is a fantastic forum!!!

Malcolm

 

[Tman2]

Quote:
Someone explain to me how a floor that is off the ground, and covered from the top, is going to get enough moisture on the underside to cause damage? Does water jump somehow?

I've been building sheds for 14 years and in construction for over 20. The only thing you need to worry about to keep that floor from rotting is keeping the underside ventilated (allow air movement underneath). Don't waste your time painting the bottom. The 3/4" OSB will be a fine floor, just put a cheap piece of vinyl flooring on top to protect it.

As for treated plywood... you want to trap your chickens, which I assume you have for healthier eggs, in a building with 'treated' wood floors? It doesn't have arsenic in it anymore, but it eats through metal nails now... hence the need for screws approved for contact with treated wood.

 

[triggfamily5]

Quote:

Actually, out here I think it does

Out here it rains so fast, so hard, so quick, and sometimes very sideways, that it bounces off the ground and up again. I can't explain it, but it happens here

Just my input here, I know Wyoming is pretty dry, but we do get a lot of snow, and in the spring we can get a lot of rain.... The teenager coop we are building right now is made from OSB, I couldn't swallow the cost of plywood at twice as much money. OSB would work for many years uncoated out here. If I was really concerned about it, everything facing the outside elements would get some sort of coating on it. As far as the inside goes, I am all for linoleum. having been using osb/plywood for many years on my porch floor, and then adding linoleum later, I LOVE linoleum. That wood just sucks in the dirt/dust and makes it so hard to clean.