An oriented strand board, commonly known as an OSB, is a multipurpose wood panel that is composed of waterproof adhesives and wooden strands. These wooden boards come in pretty handy once glued together, allowing you to use them in sheathing walls and laying down flooring. If you’re interested in learning how to properly glue together your OSBs and ensure they remain in strong contact permanently, this is the place for you!
For gluing OSB boards together, you’ll need to first prep both your boards by sanding them and wetting both sides with a wet towel. Next, you’ll need a strong solvent-based adhesive like Gorilla Glue to ensure that both the boards stick firmly together. While the glue dries, you would also have to clamp both the boards together for at least 24 hours before you can use your wooden invention.
An OSB board can be uneven and would require solid contact with other OSBs to be glued together securely. The texture of an OSB board poses the risk of you ending up with a poor glue job. Therefore, appropriate measures need to be taken to ensure that you don’t run into this problem.
A Step By Step Guide To Gluing OSB Boards Together
Usually, OSB panels are made of two separate layers of strands. The outer layer is longer and aligned in the panel’s direction. The inner (or core) layer is counter-aligned with the outer layer and is sometimes even laid across the panel randomly. These different orientations of the layers give OSB its distinct traits, which include their bending strength, rigidity, impermeability to water, and thickness.
However, this gives rise to some irregularities in the texture that one needs to account for while gluing OSB boards together. It is important to pay heed to the different structures and take appropriate measures to effectively glue two or more OSB boards together. The first step to gluing your OSB boards together is sanding!
1. Sand The OSB
Wood surfaces, be it OSB or plywood, need to be freshly worked over before being glued together. This means that for a strong glue joint to form, the OSB needs to have had been planned, cut, or sanded recently
Sanding removes any contamination accrued on the surface during storage, making it easier for the adhesive to set in and work its magic. It also makes the OSB more durable and maintains its elegance.
Anyhow, after finely sanding your OSBs, rub them with a wet rag to clear off any wood dust or grease accumulated on your board. Once dried, it’s time to apply the glue!
2. Apply The Adhesive
After sanding the OSB board, the next step is to apply your adhesive on the side of your OSB. To apply any glue on normal OSB boards, you can grab yourself a flux brush to make things easier.
Flux brushes are made specifically to apply glue and are available aplenty in hardware stores and are perfect for gluing intricate joints. They can also be reused after being thoroughly cleaned.
However, if you’re dealing with larger OSB boards, it’s better to use either a notched trowel or a spatula. These steel trowels are quite inexpensive and work perfectly well for spreading and leveling glue on your board. They’re also reusable, allowing you to clean the glue off quite easily.
3. Clamp the OSB Boards Together
After applying the glue, clamp both the boards together using any heavy object. The minimum clamping force required can be supplied by a stack of books or water bottles. Next, let the adhesive dry for a few hours. Congratulations, you now have your OSB boards glued together inseparably.
Since wood glue is naturally a very lubricative substance, you need to account for the slippages that may occur because of the clamping force. Avoid physically overexerting yourself.
The wood chips found in OSB panels use a waterproofing resin to be held in shape. During lubrication, try to ensure that you only use solvent-based adhesives to avoid the resin from bleeding and coating the bare wood. Not only will this degrade the OSB panel but will also cause further difficulties while trying to glue it together with a different surface.
Top Adhesives to Glue OSB Boards Together
OSB boards require a strong glue to be held together for indefinite periods of time. There are a number of appropriate adhesive solutions that you can use.
Polyurethane Construction Adhesive by Titebond
This extra-strong adhesive is well-noted for its gap-filling properties. This is especially helpful in overcoming the rough texture of an OSB board. It also requires less time to dry on average as compared to other adhesives. An added benefit of this type of glue is that it is reactive to moisture, so it can be used on wet mating surfaces as well.
Heavy-Duty Construction Adhesive by Gorilla
This all-weather adhesive will provide a long-lasting and heavy-duty bond between two OSB boards. It is applicable on nearly any type of surface and has excellent gap-filling properties. It is also completely waterproof, so your OSB board project can be implemented outdoor as well. Moreover, this adhesive has fast-grabbing properties that allow it to hold in around 30 seconds.
Solvent-Based FRP Construction Adhesive by Titebond
This rubber-based adhesive is particularly suitable for installing FRP panels over different materials, such as OSBs, plywood, plaster, etc. You can use this adhesive to glue together as many OSB boards as you may like. The need to brace together the boards is significantly reduced due to this adhesive’s superior strength. It is also an incredibly efficient water-resistant adhesive. This is also a relatively inexpensive option as compared to other types of adhesives.
It is safe to say that other brand equivalents will be just as effective, as long as you correctly clamp the OSB boards together and give the glue enough time to dry itself.
Some safety precautions also need to be taken while applying the adhesive to the OSB board. Wearing gloves at all times is recommended, as taking these construction glues off can be a very challenging task.
FAQS
Q) How hard should we clamp together two OSB boards?
Excessive force is not required. All you have to do is use materials such as books or water bottles to clamp together the OSB boards. Excessive pressure can result in uneven displacement of the glue, and may even cause it to leak out.
Q) Is using an OSB cost-effective?
Definitely. It is considerably less expensive than other materials such as plywood. This is why OSB is now being commonly used for sub-flooring and roof sheathing, as investors benefit from the significant cost savings.
Q) Are OSB boards waterproof?
Since OSB are made of wood strands, resins, and wax, they are naturally water-proof. However, cutting an OSB may create tiny holes from where water could seep in. Therefore, adding a water-resistant sealant to OSBs is a good idea. A wet OSB is susceptible to swelling at the sides.
Q) Is OSB sustainable?
Unlike other materials such as plywood, OSB is environmentally friendly since it contains less formaldehyde. Furthermore, they also use small logs during the manufacturing process, which saves the maturer trees. The manufacturing process also produces negligible waste since all the parts of the log are used.
Conclusion
Gluing OSB boards together can be seriously challenging. However, as long as you follow the aforementioned steps, not only will you be safe, but will also be able to perfectly glue together your OSB boards. So, what are you waiting for? Scurry on and glue those wood panels together already!
