Choosing to use OSB

The marketplace for timber within all manner of construction work has grown in recent years, and despite there being a downturn as far as property is concerned, the attitude of the building industry as a whole has shifted towards the preferential use of environmentally sound materials that will tick all the right boxes for sustainability, strength and performance.

It's been a long time coming, but one such timber panel benefiting from such interest in green credentials is Oriented Strand Board (OSB). OSB manufactured in the UK and Ireland is always sourced from locally managed forests that are independently certified to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) criteria. This ensures that the raw material travels a shorter distance to the manufacturing mill, whilst making it possible for manufacturers in the UK and Ireland to trace each and every board of FSC certified OSB they produce to the exact forest it came from and to mark the panels with other relevant technical data. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for unsustainable plywood manufactured, for instance, in China and South America with raw materials originating from threatened rainforests, which doesn't have the correct quality and environmental credentials that OSB has.

Despite having been available in the UK and Ireland for over 20 years, a general lack of awareness of OSB's properties and the applications it can be used for has meant that the industry has sometimes been slow to pick up on the possibilities.

The JOSB Done initiative, supported by leading manufacturers SmartPly and Norbord, resin supplier Huntsman and the Wood Panel Industries Federation, is currently in its fourth year, with the aim of spreading the word about the uses and benefits of FSC certified OSB over non-compliant plywood. This year, the campaign has been speaking with companies such as Birmingham-based Bespace Urban Design, specialists in bespoke, contemporary garden cube buildings, about their usage of OSB and how, like many other tradesmen in the UK, they have not looked back since making the choice to use FSC certified OSB panels within their construction projects.

Get On Board

Providing a full design and build service, Bespace is the brainchild of Mark and Neil Warburton, who have been in the building trade for over 22 years and believe the reason their business is bucking the current market trend is because of their ability to know their market and deliver on their promises.

Mark commented: "When Bespace began, it was a relatively new concept; to design and build truly bespoke garden cubes using the most innovative and environmentally-sound materials from start to finish.

"We asked ourselves how we could be different, as anyone with the relevant experience can go out and build a garden construction. However, we knew we had to justify the design and cost of such a product through the bespoke service we provide and the green-kudos the finished product has.

"From going to exhibitions such as Grand Designs Live, it quickly became clear that we had tapped into a niche market," continues Mark "Green issues are very much at the forefront of many peoples' minds and we choose to use materials such as FSC certified Oriented Strand Board (OSB) because of its consistency, strength and sustainability. In fact, the FSC is the only internationally recognised forest certification system on the market that can give credible assurance that timber products come from responsibly managed forests, so we can be sure that we are ticking all the right boxes for the environmentally aware client.

A Wood Choice

"As part of the ‘old school', I always used to use plywood because that was the norm." says Mark. "Builders can get set in their ways and it is hard to change their mind when they are used to working a particular way and with specific materials, but once they understand OSB and start using it like we have done, they will see what it can do.

"In fact, over the last two years, I can't remember a time when we've had to use plywood for a project. OSB can do everything we need it to. The quality is there and the accuracy is always 100%, whereas with plywood you nearly always find voids, or have trouble with splitting, and weak spots, which you don't get with OSB because of how it's manufactured. You never see any differentials or have a problem panel, out of shape or a weak panel.

"You're also guaranteed that it is from a sustainable source so there's no need to question, which is reassuring. For us the whole product has to tick every box for sustainability and for our clients, we can't afford to cut corners."

Likewise, Roy James, of RJ Joinery, used to favour plywood over FSC compliant OSB because of uncertainty over how it would perform: "However, we saw our competitors start to use OSB panels and we wanted to see why this was becoming more common place. Once we started to work with OSB ourselves, we quickly gained confidence in its stability and longevity and know that in most given situations, it can live up to ply.

"Some people may be stuck in their ways and assume that OSB has a lower quality, but when you come to use it you realise it has that strength and durability you need. On occasion, I have had problems when buying in plywood and the consistency of the boards can sometimes be touch and go. In the past two years, the issue of unsustainable non-compliant plywood imports has been widely highlighted, and so I will now make a point of asking where the timber I use comes from.

"At the end of the day, I feel as a business we had to make the change to OSB because otherwise we would have lost out to our competitors. The important thing is to specify the right product for the job at hand, and the lower price-point of OSB means that we can produce high quality timber frame buildings without a high cost to our customers."

To find out more about the JOSB Done campaign, visit www.josbdone.com.

Press enquiries to: Kelly Edmonds Willoughby Public Relations 43 Calthorpe Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 1TS Tel: 0121 456 3004 Fax: 0121 456 9300 kellye@willoughby-pr.co.uk