Flooring Plywood Thickness

What is the actual thickness of a sheet of plywood.

Flooring plywood thickness.

The national wood flooring association recommends a minimum plywood panel thickness of 7 8 inch for joist spans of 19 2 to 24 inches and a minimum plywood panel thickness of 5 8 inch for joist spans of 16 inches or less. A 3 4 sheet is actually 23 32 thick. It is rot resistant with knots replaced with football shaped plugs to give it a smooth moisture resistant surface. Plywood is the most common type of subflooring.

The subfloor is the decking installed on top of flooring joists. The recommended shed floor plywood thickness is 3 4 inch pressure treated exterior grade cdx plywood. Keep in mind that for mechanically fastened floors osb doesn t hold fasteners as well as plywood so you need to use a thicker material to get the same holding power. X 96 in plywood is a powerful structural product plywood is a powerful structural product used where strength and stiffness are required for subfloors wall or roof sheathing and do it yourself projects.

The finished floor is then installed on top of the subfloor. Usually manufactured in 4 by 8 foot sheets plywood panels and osb are acceptable subfloors for hardwood flooring as long as they are the proper thickness. This type of plywood won t sag when used on a 12 inches joist structure. The most common thickness of plywood is 1 2 inch but plywood thickness can range from 1 8.

The thickness of plywood panels in a subfloor is regulated by the. The recommended thickness of the plywood subfloor is governed by the spacing of the joists. Fir sheathing plywood actual. When used in flooring plywood functions as the subfloor that supports hardwoods tile and carpet floors.

Plywood is often sold in 1 4 1 2 or 3 4 nominal thicknesses but the actual thickness is often 1 32 thinner. Some experts suggest that 15 32 inch plywood should be standard if the underlying floor joists are spaced 16 inches apart or less but slightly thicker 3 4 inch plywood should be used for joists spaced further apart. The plywood must be exterior grade for all wet areas and it has to be installed in such a way that the joints between each layer do not line up using what is known as a stagger pattern to keep the pieces from ever lining up. The thickness needed for subflooring depends on the type of floor that will go on top and the primary purpose for the subfloor.

The thickness of your plywood subfloor depends on the joist spans. Plywood comes in a variety of thicknesses beginning at 1 8 inch and increasing to 1 inch. Because the actual thickness may vary measuring the plywood is the only accurate way to determine its thickness.