osb used for bathroom floor.

[coolhandluke]

Does anyone have any experience of using 18mm osb as flooring in a bathroom and tiled over? The rep from the local builders merchant seems to think that it will be ok as it says on specifications that it can be used for flooring, external use (wet conditions) and is structural. Going straight onto floor joists at 400mm centres. The Brand of osb is "smart ply" if that makes any difference.
Have used 18mm ply in the past but this stuff is half the price.

Cheers.

 

[gcol]

Nope, don't do it. The rep is a tw.at. If it was a viable option, we'd all be using it. It has very little structural integrity, so keep to WBP ply.

 

[Deluks]

Your call really. Not as good as ply, if OSB gets a real good continuous soaking it will swell up, and stay that way.

Still infinitely better than chipboard though, if you wanna save a few quid then it should be ok if it's the proper t&g flooring stuff.

*edit* Beat me to it Gareth! However I disagree, OSB is structurally very good stuff.

 

[big-all]

i have never seen strand board used as flooring!!!!!

in my humble oppinion a bad idea if ir was any good would be widely used

 

[Deluks]

You can get 8x2 t&g panels for floors, just the same as plywood flooring. This is nicely compressed and smooth OSB, not the hairy stuff you get on pallets. Plenty strong for the intended use. and yes it can get wet to a certain degree. You'd need a major plumbing catastrophe for to get ruined. Because it's not widely used doesn't mean it's not up to the job.

 

[coolhandluke]

Thanks for the feedback fellas. After I posted the question I went on to the "speedply" web site. I know I should have done that before I wasted everones time but didn't think about it . Any how they say on there that it is fine for bathroom applications but don't say if you can put tiles down on it. So I will ring them this morning, find out and will post answer on here and settle argument. Cheers

 

[gcol]

Nothing to settle cockle, you just don't tile onto OSB. If you find an adhesive manufacturer recommending doing so, please let me know.

 

[coolhandluke]

Hi all. Spoke to my local rep from smart ply and he says that smartply3 can be used in bathrooms and kitchens, and can be tiled on as long as you use a decent quality flexible floor tile adhiesive, the same as you would use on ply wood not b&q cheap readymix. Anyhow I chickened out and got wbp ply just because I know it works and that puts my mind at rest but that doesn't mean osb wouldn't work.

Cheers for all replies.

 

[gcol]