What type of wooden board was this?

Question

In my last house the garage had a pit for working on cars in. To cover this when it wasn't in use there were two layers of perhaps 3/4" thick wooden type sheet about 18 inches wide x the 4.5 or so feet long that was the width of the pit. They rested on the top of the side walls of the pit which were finished 1.5 inches below the concrete surface of the rest of the garage floor so everything was flush with them in place. They were clearly an engineered material not just sheets of sawn wood. They had a diamond pattern embossed in them, presumably for grip underfoot, were a very dark brown colour and were very strong. The finish was so uniform you couldn't see any strands or chips of wood showing.

With them all in place I tended to forget that there was even a hole underneath where I was walking, or working, and had engine stands and other heavy items on top sometimes. I suspect they were some type of OSB but not of any type I can find on Google or even know what terms to search for.

Anyone know what these were exactly?

therustyone · Accepted Answer

How much did they weigh?  Most wood is lighter than water, and most everything else, plastic etc. is heavier.   Unless it's a composite structure. rusty

The Natural Philosopher · Answer

Umm. this mightwell have been high desnity fibreboard - a sort of super MDF but made in layers of something like paper and a thermoset glue - think massive PCB - and the embossing carried out by a press as they were pressed and heated to set the stuff.

we used to cover ply in the stuff, but I cant remember the actual name of it.

possibly Tufnol or similar

Andrew Mawson · Answer

Sound like the stuff Ifor Williams use to bed their trailers - a very resilient hard wearing basically plywood, but impregnated with something like phenolic resin then squashed very hard in a press. One side usually has a pattern on to give a good grip. I had my 17 foot Ifor Williams re-bedded last year and it was bally expensive stuff.

AWEM

The Medway Handyman · Answer

Buffalo Board?

Uncle Peter · Answer

erything else, plastic etc. is heavier. Unless it's a composite struct= ure.

Plastic heavier than water? Never seen such a thing.

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news · Answer

One of the phenolic compressed boards, search on buffalo board, often used for trailer floors. AJH

mike · Answer

Permali maybe?

Dave Baker · Answer

That looks very similar. Thank you to the wonderful collective on here. A  superb source of knowledge.

Bill Wright · Answer

Yes, and what few things we don't know we can easily make up, so it's  seamless. Bill

PeterC · Answer

Polypropylene is less dense than water; most others are denser (including polystyrene).

Uncle Peter · Answer

I found all sorts of plastic items around the house and none sank, can you think of an object that would?

What type of wooden board was this?

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