PLYWOOD STUDS ?

[parnold]

so far im in the drawing stage but hope to do it as soon as the snow melts. john

Does the snow ever melt in Alaska?

[unreel]

nope. we are getting a record snow fall this yr so it will be late when it melts. valdez and cordova which are about 250miles from me have 327" of snow so far this yr. thats 27ft and expecting more by spring usually 40ft. the ski area there shut down as the chair lift towers are under the snow. i will be out icecarving for the next 2 weeks so that is what we do in the winter.

[Ashleymeadow]

I have been walkIng on OSB (oriented strand board) in my home for the past 12 years, and the floor joists are engineered OSB held vertically. The outside of my home and barn also have OSB, and I did not get around to shingling the barn for two years with no degradation of the material. So, now that I have finished my frame I have laid my sub-floor with 7/16 OSB, and I will rip 1 inch strips of OSB for floor joists gluing two together to make 7/8 inch thick by 1 inch high joists. I will then glue to the sub-floor using epoxy thickened with "sawdust". No nails! Between them, 1 inch foam insulation covering with 1/2 plywood. That too will be epoxied to place. It seems to me that would be very much like the honeycombed material used in airliners. It will be very strong. See any problems?

If it works there, why not apply that technique to studs and roof supports. Straight, won't warp, water proof, almost like stitch and glue boat building. I think it will work.

Incidentally, I will be using a biscuit cutter bit in my trim router to develop a type of tongue and grove joint (inserting a 1inch wide 4mm plywood strip) on the OSB floor joints. It that holds together as well as I think it will, I will continue with the OSB material unless one of you think it will not work.

Jerry

[Larry C]

The only problem is that 3/4" plywood isn't really 3/4". It's a little thinner and it makes it hard to insulate as 3/4" insulation is 3/4".

That will be your only problem with using ply. In order to get true 3/4" thickness ply will have to buy hardwood veneer ply, which will end up costing you a lot of $$$. Non hardwood veneer plywood at 3/4" is actually 23/32". Structurally ply is fine for framing though.

I assume you're looking at firring strips from a big box store for the 1x2's? These are grade 3 lumber which you will most likely never find a straight, usable piece. Go with "select", it will be straight and have the dimensional size you need for the insulation.

I went with 1x2's and 2x2's and bought them from a lumber yard, not a big box store. Lumber yard's will almost always have a better quality product and you'll have more lumber to choose from to find the best pieces. Also for small stock like this I used an inside lumberyard, where the lumber is stored in a temperature and humidity controlled environment.

You'll pay a little bit more for select, but in my opinion, it's well worth it. It's important your framing be plumb, square and level, as any variances will only increase how much off square things are later in the build. It's a domino effect.

Or.... you could adjust your insulation to the plywood thickness. All you need is a thickness planer



Foam the same thickness as the wood after planing:



Larry C

[48Rob]

Good idea...but how long did it take to clean up that mess?

Rob

[Larry C]

Good idea...but how long did it take to clean up that mess?

Rob

Rob, You are correct, it was a mess! Static electricity made the foam stick to everything. Compared to saw dust. it was a real pain to clean up. However, I really didn't have a choice. I had planed all my wood stringers to exactly 1" for my floor. When I bought my 1" foam at Lowes, I found it was not exactly 1" thick, it varied from 1" to 1-1/8".
My floor is a torsion box with only 1/8" skins, so I needed everything to be be the exact same thickness. I was going to glue the foam panels in on one side and sand them even with a long board sander, but planing them seemed like a good idea at the time. It did work out great, and even with the clean up pain, I would do the same again.

Larry C

[48Rob]

Larry,

I recently opened a bean bag chair in order to remove half the contents.
The static was a big problem!
Ipoured them out of the bag into a trash can, and they "jumped" out and away from the can...

I finally used a water and alcohol mix in a sprayer to lightly mist the little balls, and was then able to sweep them up.

Rob

[angib]

I finally used a water and alcohol mix in a sprayer to lightly mist the little balls, and was then able to sweep them up.

And you didn't get someone to video this activity and upload it to YouTube? - you are mean.

[Larry C]

Larry,

I recently opened a bean bag chair in order to remove half the contents.
The static was a big problem!
Ipoured them out of the bag into a trash can, and they "jumped" out and away from the can...

I finally used a water and alcohol mix in a sprayer to lightly mist the little balls, and was then able to sweep them up.

Rob

I did the water and alcohol trick too, but I added some hops,

[IndyTom]

I am really feeling the pain of the OP. I was in Menard's last night looking for some clear straight 2X12s that I could rip into clear straight 1X2s and all they had was CRAP. They did have some pretty and clear pieces, but nothing in the bin was straight. Arrrgh. I worked in a place that Menard's in high school and can remember the nice lumber we sold. I know that was when dinosaurs roamed the earth, but still it seems odd that quality has deteriorated so much. But I guess, that unless I find some high quality 2X lumber somewhere, I will also be trying the plywood studs idea. I was planning to adhere everything together with PL Premium, and in the couple of places where I was planning to use 2X2s, I can just sister a couple of the pieces together.

Tom

[Verna]

I am really feeling the pain of the OP. I was in Menard's last night looking for some clear straight 2X12s that I could rip into clear straight 1X2s and all they had was CRAP. They did have some pretty and clear pieces, but nothing in the bin was straight. Arrrgh. I worked in a place that Menard's in high school and can remember the nice lumber we sold. I know that was when dinosaurs roamed the earth, but still it seems odd that quality has deteriorated so much. But I guess, that unless I find some high quality 2X lumber somewhere, I will also be trying the plywood studs idea. I was planning to adhere everything together with PL Premium, and in the couple of places where I was planning to use 2X2s, I can just sister a couple of the pieces together.

Tom

Tom, try Lowe's. I quit buying 2x lumber at Menard's a few years ago when a 2x4 almost twisted totally around in less than a week... Home Depot is my 2nd choice.

[IndyTom]

I will give Lowes a look Verna. I was really dissappointed. I have a 2X12 in my garage that is left over from a stair project I did over 2 years ago. It is just leaning against the wall and it is just as straight as the day I bought it and it was very straight then. Things change I guess.

Tom

[dh]

Good idea...but how long did it take to clean up that mess?

Rob

Rob, You are correct, it was a mess! Static electricity made the foam stick to everything. Compared to saw dust. it was a real pain to clean up. However, I really didn't have a choice. I had planed all my wood stringers to exactly 1" for my floor. When I bought my 1" foam at Lowes, I found it was not exactly 1" thick, it varied from 1" to 1-1/8".
My floor is a torsion box with only 1/8" skins, so I needed everything to be be the exact same thickness. I was going to glue the foam panels in on one side and sand them even with a long board sander, but planing them seemed like a good idea at the time. It did work out great, and even with the clean up pain, I would do the same again.

Larry C

My neighbor is the high school shop teacher. We snuck in one night and used the surface sander to modify my foam insulation. Same principal as planer, but with 100 grit sand paper belt about 3' wide and 6' long. The dust collection system took care of the mess. See if you can talk to your local shop teacher.

[Big Dave]

Ashleymeadow, after using some CDX ply for my floor I'm wishing I'd used the Advantech waterproof OSB instead. After I had the floor 75% done I had a talk with a guy at the lumber yard. He said that his daughter started building a house and less than half way through, her and her husband split up. The house sat with no tar paper and no siding for 5 years, they had used the Advantech on the roof, exterior walls, and floors. When his daughter got back on her feet she decided to finish the build. They went to inspect the damage figuring they would take it back down to the studs, there was no damage at all. No swelling, no rot, nothing. I think I'm going to use it for the rest of the exterior, and on the next trailer (shhh . . .the wife might hear!)