Wood Panel Products

Question 1

What are the four structural panel types?

Answer 1

• plywood
• oriented strand board (OSB)
• particleboard
• fiberboard

Question 2

What is plywood?

Answer 2

consists of an odd number of layers, or veneers, of wood

Question 3

What are the five steps of plywood production?

Answer 3

• veneers are rotary sliced from log
• sheets are passed through a kiln and dried to ~5% MC
• sheets are assembled into large pieces and patched as needed
• veneers are glued and pressed to create dense, flat panels
• panels are trimmed to size, sanded, graded, and stamped before shipping

Question 4

What is oriented strand board (OSB) made of, and what sets it apart from other structural wood panels? (3)

Answer 4

• made from strands of wood
• strongest and stiffest type of non-veneered panel
• generally more economical than plywood

Question 5

What is particleboard made of, and what is it used for? (3)

Answer 5

• made from smaller wood particles than OSB
• mainly used as a base material for wood veneer or plastic laminate
• also used as a floor underlayment

Question 6

What is fiberboard made of, and what is it used for? (3)

Answer 6

• made with wood fibers
• generally limited to interior uses
• most commonly used form is medium-density fiberboard (MDF)

Question 7

How are structural wood panels typically sized? (3)

Answer 7

• standard sizes: 4’x8’
• up to 1-1/8” thick
• manufactured 1/8” less than nominal to allow for expansion

Question 8

What are three major advantages of wood panel products?

Answer 8

• they require less installation labor when compared to individual boards
• shrinking, swelling, checking, and splitting are minimized
• panel products make more efficient use of forest resources