Exterior Grade Plywood

redfishbluefish · Sep 30, 2016

Had an interesting conversation today with a Pro Desk guy at HD regarding plywood. I've been wondering why some of my plywood projects have been failing......delamination. When I purchased the plywood at HD, I was told it was exterior grade. Well today the Pro guy told me that they haven't sold true exterior grade plywood in many years....it would be coded RED, as he repeatedly said. The plywood they carry might say it could be used on outside projects, but it's not truly exterior grade. It's the glue that's different and significantly adds to the cost. He told me that 1/4 x 4 x 8 sheet I was interested in, that cost about $18 at HD, would be $45 to $50 if it was truly exterior. I asked about exterior sheathing, and his comment was that it's used on the exterior of the building, but then needs to be covered up.

So I learned something today.....not to buy my plywood at HD for tank stand projects anymore.

143MPCo · Sep 30, 2016

I'm not the least bit surprised, this is like capitalism at its best, over the last few years I've noticed that a lot of home supply stores offering items at a lesser cost but the items themselves seem to be made from inferior materials, I can't blame this all on them, a lot of this is driven by what the consumer is also willing to pay for something and if they're not making the revenue off of an expensive item they'll cut their losses and find one that's cheaper.

redfishbluefish · Sep 30, 2016

I'm certainly no expert, but know enough to be dangerous, and I can tell you that a number of the plumbing fixtures and supplies they sell do not meet National Code.

143MPCo · Sep 30, 2016

I agree with you Paul, what seems to bug me even more is the fact that they marketed in such a way that you can't really tell if it's up to code or not and that's worrisome.

cromag27 · Sep 30, 2016

I build a lot of stands and I only go to a pro wood supplier for this reason! although I don't use anything thinner than 3/4" and their birch has held up well on some smaller projects I've done. but the expensive stuff is $100/sheet.

RobBaglieri · Sep 30, 2016

True exterior rated plywood can easily cost 50-80$. If you go to the right lumber yard you can get true exterior plywood rated for exposure. There's a reason why reputable builders don't buy from HD.