A substantial savings to be sure. The trend among builders is to switch to osb. APA s market data indicates that more than half the structural panels used in residential construction in 1995 were osb. But price is not the whole story. A bumper crop of news stories highlighting contractor ripoffs has left consumers reeling.
Reports indicate that some homeowners worry about builders cheaping out when they use osb.
When it comes to structural integrity, cost is less of an issue among consumers than structural performance. It looks like a bunch of junk pounded together. Public perception is that we are getting stuck with scraps. The uninitiated don t appreciate the high-level of science and technology used to produce engineered wood products. And oddly, plywood is perceived as solid wood to a lay person.