How to make painted OSB look halfway decent?

[dadiOH]

Not bad looking but how do you get rid of the splinters?

[clare]

I think he said it's an outdoor wood drying "kiln" behind the house that he just wants to look decent.

I's just use board and batten lumber siding and let it weather grey.

[John Grossbohlin]

In some areas fire departments will withdraw from, or not even enter, buildings with wood truss or I-joist construction as the risk of falling through the floor is greater. In those cases the losses tend to run higher. There was an extensive article on this some years ago in, as I recall, Journal of Light Construction (or maybe under it's previous name New England Builder). The article talked about roof structures also as the same problem exists there.

[krw]

I'm sure the tile in my bathroom is over just the plywood. There are a couple of loose tiles by the tub because of it. It'll all come up in a year or so when we redo the bathroom (and get rid of the plastic shower stall). I've had very good results with Hardiboard under tile. Raising the floor 3/4" has been the only problem, in past jobs.

[krw]

What steps? Fire resistant OSB? My current house has the I-beam floor joists. I see nothing protecting them at all. They do seem to be pretty susceptible to fire damage. Once the bottom rail is compromised, there isn't much left to hold up the floor.

[krw]

Yeah, but it's a matter of whether it goes down before or after we get out. ;-) The fire department's job is to protect the neighbor's house.

[Swingman]

Wood burns, steel twists and buckles, bricks and stones tumble and fall.

St Louis burned to the ground in 1849 and subsequently mandated that all structures be made of brick and stone ... they still had fires and the necessity for a FD.

Everything in life is a compromise to some degree, and it is rare to experience any benefit without some attendant risk.

Shit will happen, but most of us do the best we can to make housing both safe and affordable by assessing the risk versus benefit of those two components.

just my tuppence. ;)

[-MIKE-]

FWIW, Hardiboard comes in 1/4" thickness for use on floors.

[-MIKE-]

If it's *really* a problem, then why don't codes require new home construction to have sprinkler systems installed? My friend's house came with them.

[woodchucker]

Yep, here in nj all commercial buildings must have a sign showing the type of roof construction. One fire dept lost many fireman (I think 5) when the roof collapsed. I'm not sure it would have made a difference for that fire, as they had to know in a flat roof that it was a truss roof..

[Michael]

Are you saying that 1/4 hardboard over plywood will work for tile?

[Michael]

Update: A guy was selling 1/2 inch plywood for 9 bucks a sheet. No need for OSB for this project. Thanks.

[woodchucker]

Damn that's a good price?? Where.. I need to make a blast cabinet for sand blasting. I wouldn't even use the OSB for that...

[Michael]

Milwaukee, WI. He had only one more sheet to sell. Thank you, Craigslist.

[Morgans]

"Michael" wrote

Make sure you are understanding what material we are talking about.

Hardboard is masonite type stuff, sometimes used as pegboard or as a base in making paneling. Don't use that.

Hardiboard is not anything, but it is close to describing the real product we are talking about.

The name of the stuff we are talking about is called hardibacker. Brand name. If you use that, then the answer is as follows.

Sure. That is exactly what it is designed for.

The key is to: Use a material that allows some movement in relation to the wood underneath it. Use a material that allows the mastic or grout to grab onto. Has a co-efficient of expansion similar to the stone or tile being installed on it. Does not deteriorate over time as it is exposed to the moisture always present when in contact with masonry products.

Meet those requirements, and you have a winner. Hardibacker or cement board, both qualify.

[Michael]

Awesome. Good to know. Thanks.

[-MIKE-]

Absolutely. But there's always a chance I'm reading their specs wrong. Best thing to do is to call their tech support and ask them their recommendation for the specifics of your application.

People often mistakenly presume that the purpose of cement board is to fortify or strengthen a sub-floor with too much deflection. That is not its purpose at all and it would be very poor at doing so.

Remember, the cement is serving two purposes. To uncouple the tile job from the sub-floor so they they can expand/contract independently of each other. And to prevent swelling (much greater and faster movement than seasonal expansion) of the sub-floor from moisture/water soaked into it from the wet environment above it.

When I removed the old tile from my bathroom before our remodel, it was still is pristine condition after 20 years. It consisted of 4x4 tiles on a thick self-leveling cement bed, on top of tar paper. The tar paper was enough to allow independent movement of the sub-floor and mortor bed, while the cement bed soaked up any moisture allowing it to evaporate without soaking into the sub-floor.

[-MIKE-]

Correct. If anyone in this thread thought we were referring to the dark brown paper press-board they use to make pegboard sheet from, then disregard this entire thread! :-)

[Michael]

Thanks for the info. That makes the bathroom project much more do-able. The internets was useful today.

[krw]

That would save 1/4", but I thought that was for walls (over sheetrock). Anyway, I wanted to stiffen the floors, too. Worked great. I'll probably use it again, on this house. I have four bathrooms and a laundry to do (I hate vinyl flooring).