paint smooth or rough side of OSB?
 

Hi all.

I'm putting up OSB in my garage to panel the walls. I like the OSB
because it doesn't warp like plywood and it's reasonably priced. My
question is if anyone has had experience painting either the rough or
the smooth side.

The rough will certainly soak up (a lot) of primer and paint. The
smooth side would be nice in terms of wash down. Will the primer stick?
I've tried a small section and it appears to be OK.

Any experience out there?

best,
Ols

olson14 wrote:
Hi all.

I'm putting up OSB in my garage to panel the walls. I like the OSB
because it doesn't warp like plywood and it's reasonably priced. My
question is if anyone has had experience painting either the rough or
the smooth side.

The rough will certainly soak up (a lot) of primer and paint. The
smooth side would be nice in terms of wash down. Will the primer stick?
I've tried a small section and it appears to be OK.

Any experience out there?

best,
Ols

I would paint all sides for such use. Any moisture will be absorbed and
make the OSB expand and fall apart. Plywood better, IMO.

I would paint all sides for such use. Any moisture will be absorbed and
make the OSB expand and fall apart. Plywood better, IMO.


Well it's all interior, so I'm not expecting any moisture aside from a
light washing. Thanks for the input.

It looks like my painted test spot is holding on the smooth side.

Ols

"olson14" wrote in message
news:CLoYe.357663$_o.97303@attbi_s71...
: Hi all.
:
: I'm putting up OSB in my garage to panel the walls. I like the
OSB
: because it doesn't warp like plywood and it's reasonably
priced. My
: question is if anyone has had experience painting either the
rough or
: the smooth side.
:
: The rough will certainly soak up (a lot) of primer and paint.
The
: smooth side would be nice in terms of wash down. Will the
primer stick?
: I've tried a small section and it appears to be OK.
:
: Any experience out there?
:
: best,
: Ols

Yeah, the smooth side will paint fine; prime first of course.

"olson14" wrote in message
news:CLoYe.357663$_o.97303@attbi_s71...
Hi all.

I'm putting up OSB in my garage to panel the walls. I like the OSB
because it doesn't warp like plywood and it's reasonably priced. My
question is if anyone has had experience painting either the rough or
the smooth side.

The rough will certainly soak up (a lot) of primer and paint. The
smooth side would be nice in terms of wash down. Will the primer stick?
I've tried a small section and it appears to be OK.

Paint the slick side. The rough side will soak up more paint and you may
have some flaking of the wood slices as the paint soaks the board.

For the naysayers, I built a small storage shed in 1990 using OSB as the
finish siding, primed and painted it once in 10 years. It is still going
strong.


--
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Paint the slick side. The rough side will soak up more paint and you may
have some flaking of the wood slices as the paint soaks the board.

For the naysayers, I built a small storage shed in 1990 using OSB as the
finish siding, primed and painted it once in 10 years. It is still going
strong.



Thanks for all of the input. When I get some more done, I'll post some
pictures. I went with the smooth side out. It's working great. I
talked with some construction dudes and their assessment was that OSB is
as strong as plywood and in the hot and humid midwest, it handles
warping better. Who knows though. It's a lot cheaper at this point in
time probably because it's surpassed plywood in sales in the past few
years. Time will tell...
Ols

Typical recommendation in woodworking finishing is to coat BOTH sides
to slow moisture absorption and try to avoid warping and cupping.

On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 13:00:46 GMT, olson14
wrote:


I would paint all sides for such use. Any moisture will be absorbed and
make the OSB expand and fall apart. Plywood better, IMO.


Well it's all interior, so I'm not expecting any moisture aside from a
light washing. Thanks for the input.

It looks like my painted test spot is holding on the smooth side.

Ols