OSB for plywood tank
- Thread starter GTi_Leo
- Start date
has anyone used 3/4" OSB to build their plywood tanks. i know that OSB stinks around water but i was going to fiberglas the while tank inside and out and waterproof the inside with zavlar liquid rubber.
the reason i ask is because OSB is much cheaper but its also just as strong and apparently is stronger on shearing. has a bit more flex to it though which may not be the best for a woodie that uses epoxy as a sealent.
anyway your input would be great
There are different grades of OSB but for one common characteristic is that it doesn't hold screws well nor does it glue up well. Both the edges and face form weak bonds with glue. So for sure if one is to use OSB it needs to be in a framed tank and not a stand alone tank where the entire structure was OSB. The exception would be if you were going to use a lot of fiberglass reinforcement. In that case the OSB would be acting more as a form for the fiberglass but adding very litting in the way of structural support.
Another concern with OSB is its surface are and how that increases the amount of sealant needed. The smoother the surface the less sealant needed. Again this is not much of an issue if one is going to fiberglass the heck out of the tank structure anyways. In that case the fiberglass increases the amount of resin needed enough that the extra surface area of the OSB is trivial.
But in that case the cost of the tank is going to be high enough that the cost savings of OSB is probably not going to make much of a difference.
Another quick point about OSB. If one reads about a successful OSB tank take care to see what country the build took place in. I've heard a few times that the OSB found over in Europe is very different that what we get here in the states.
If I were going to do another plywood tank with the goal of making it as cheap as possible I would use MDO, which is an exterior plywood with resin impregnated faces. Menards carries a lower quality MDO. I have a piece outdoors on an old 55 gallon stand that holds my portable grill. It has been outdoors for three years now and is completely fine.
MDO is what highway signs are made of or at least used to be made of.
It's very smooth so you technically use less sealant for a tank build.
My only concern with it is that I've heard it has gone up in price more than other sheet goods. I haven't priced it in a few years.
Here is a link that talks about MDO and other overlay plywoods.
http://www.olypanel.com/concreteForm/faq.php
Just checked Menards site and sure enough MDO is now about the same as their mid grade birch plywood. It used to run about half of birch plywood. So it has increased more than other plywoods. Given how well it has held up on my grill deck I would still strongly consider it for a plywood tank build.
i've got another questiong, i have 5 sheets of glass that are 47x16x3/8" and i would like the viewign window to atleast be 15" is 1/2" of over lay over the wood good enough t secure? more or less this is the amount of area that a glass tank would use and if i had larger sheets of glass i would like to over lap it more but with these sheets i'm limited.
any input?
any input?
