OSB boards for interior decoration are an excellent material for indoor use. The panels are well suited for decorating floors and walls, creating partitions in a room, furniture, balcony decoration is also popular. This material appeared on the construction market not so long ago, so it is worth dwelling on it in more detail.

The abbreviation OSB stands for oriented strand board. This rather new material has found many consumers, since such plates are not only universal, but also quite practical.

OSB has high technical properties, and due to the large area of ​​​​the plates and easy installation, interior decoration is carried out much faster and easier than when using other finishing materials. In addition, OSB sheets are cheaper than their counterparts due to the low cost of raw materials and not too high production costs.

OSB boards are a good replacement for gypsum boards or MDF. Some types of particle boards even outperform their counterparts in a number of ways.

sheathing of the room with osb plates

So, if you choose between GKL and OSB, then the latter are much better suited for leveling walls. Unlike GKL, they keep their shape better and do not bend due to irregularities. OSB is no less plastic and can be successfully used to create partitions and arches in a room.

Particle boards are made simply - by pressing ordinary wood shavings. Most often, aspen is used. The rigidity of the plate is achieved due to the different direction of the chips, and they are glued together using several types of glue based on resins, wax and boric acid. Depending on the conditions under which the plate will be used, the types of glue change.

Material advantages:

Important: when sawing, cracks do not appear on the plates, as well as when driving nails or screwing in screws.

• Particle panels are not deformed and are suitable for any type of finish, from putty to tiles.

OSB classification

• OSB-1 is the most popular OSB variant. It is used only in interiors for wall decoration and furniture repair, as well as for the construction of various structures. Class 1 boards do not withstand high humidity well and are not suitable for finishing surfaces in the bathroom and in the kitchen.
• OSB-2 is a reinforced version. The panels are more durable and able to withstand medium loads. Good for mounting room dividers, but still poorly resistant to water.
• OSB-3 - has the same parameters as class 2, but is resistant to moisture, which allows the use of OSB sheets in bathrooms and kitchens.
• OSB-4 - the most durable plates. In the manufacture of class 4 OSB, a special type of glue is used, the chips are pressed much more strongly than in the manufacture of sheets of the first three classes. Such panels are thicker - they use more layers. Such material is designed for maximum loads and is not afraid of moisture. Rarely used in interior decoration, most often OSB-4 is used in frame construction.

What screws and nails to use for installation

To fasten particle boards to the surface, different nails and screws are used - it depends on the type of base and the weight of the panel:

• finishing fasteners are used in cases where maximum masking is needed, often nails and screws of this type are used together with an adhesive composition;
• round (without hats) are used when installing plates on the floor or for fastening panels with a tongue and groove type connection;
• with a hat are used in all other cases.

There are ring-cut nails, they fix the sheet better, but they are more difficult to pull out if the coating needs to be dismantled.

When choosing between two types of fasteners, screws and nails, it is better to choose the first option. Firstly, such fastening is more reliable, and secondly, fewer screws are needed than nails. In addition, the screws can be easily removed from the slab using a screwdriver turned on in reverse mode.

How to mount OSB boards on the wall

• Panels can be mounted in any position - both vertically and horizontally.

Important: leave a small gap of about 3 mm from door and window openings.

• If the distance between the wall supports is from 40 to 60 cm, it is better to use panels no thinner than 1.2 cm for sheathing. If you plan to reinforce the walls with thermal insulation, do this before installing the plates. With OSB sheets, a material such as mineral wool is best combined.
• Spiral nails (5.1 cm) or ring nails (4.5 - 7.5 cm) must be driven in in increments of 30 cm. friend (make sure that at least 1 cm remains from the nail to the edge).

Don't forget to leave gaps:

• from the top edge of the sheet to the crown beam - 1 cm;
• from the bottom edge to the foundation wall - 1 cm;
• between plates without a locking system of connection - 0.3 cm.

Installation of OSB panels on the floor

If you are renovating on the ground floor, lay waterproofing before installing the slabs. On the floor, OSB boards are placed on logs. If grooves and ridges are not provided, leave the same gap between the sheets as on the walls - 3 mm. If you plan to build a floating floor, leave 1.2 cm gaps between the walls and the edges of the tiles.

Lay chip sheets strictly perpendicular to the lags. Grooves and ridges connect the long edges of the panels, if there are none, use special brackets. It is best if the joints lie on an additional support. The ends of the plates are connected on logs, this is very important. Maximum allowable distance between lags:

• with a thickness of 1.5-1.8 cm - 40 cm;
• with a thickness of 1.8-2.2 cm - 50 cm;
• thicker than 2.2 cm - 60 cm.

For fastening to the base, you can use the same nails as when attaching the plates to the walls. The pitch of the nails remains the same - 30 cm on the joists and 15 cm at the joints.

To make the coating harder and more reliable, you can additionally use glue when attaching the plates to the logs. It is even better if, at the same time, the groove joints are additionally glued - so the floor surface will be more integral.

How to prepare OSB for fine finishing

When using OSB panels, there is one caveat. Since they are most often used in class 3 slabs, they are impregnated with paraffin-containing materials (or compositions based on natural wax). Because of this, such plates cannot be painted - the paint simply will not lie on the base. Therefore, the slabs must be pre-treated before any finishing. What is needed for this:

1. Align the outer layer of the slab, eliminating defects and irregularities with ordinary putty or sanding.
2. Be sure to pay attention to the edges - they are the ones that absorb paint or varnish the most due to the porous structure. Round off all edges and corners, otherwise the paint will crack at the joints over time.
3. Treat the seams and gaps between the plates by filling them with an acrylic-based sealant. Do not use silicone - coloring compositions are worse placed on it.
4. Prime the surface. Thanks to the primer layer, you will save on finishing materials. The primer will not allow stains of various origins to appear on the surface of the paint layer, on the wallpaper. Use a primer based on plaster or acrylic.

Finishing materials for OSB-3 floors

The coating for OSB boards can be different - basically the choice of material depends on the type of floor. So what are the options:

• Lacquered floor. To process the plates well, you need to apply several layers of varnish, after leveling and degreasing the base. For leveling, you can use a grinder, sandpaper or an iron brush, depending on the requirements presented in the varnish instructions. After grinding, the surface should be primed and only then varnish should be applied. Such a floor will be smooth and even.
• Linoleum flooring, carpet. Before laying any of these coatings, you must make sure that there are no bumps, especially at the joints. Under linoleum or carpet, the thinnest OSB panels are used.
• Ceramic tile. The most important thing here is to choose the right adhesive for mounting tiles on wooden surfaces.
• Laminated panels. To lay a laminate on OSB, you need the perfect laying of the base slabs themselves.

OSB wall decoration with sheets

Since essential oils and natural resins are used in the production of boards, the surface must first be primed before finishing work. Otherwise, greasy stains will show through any coating over time.

Sometimes paraffin or wax is used to treat the outer layer of the plates. In this case, the surface looks very smooth, but pre-treatment of the base will be necessary if you want to paint the walls. It is best to use a ground paint with quartz sand - due to it, new layers of paint will adhere better to the slabs.

When decorating OSB walls with slabs, the following decorative materials and coatings are used:

• Lacquer is applied to the walls in exactly the same way as on the floors. Apply the coating in several layers and only after the previous layer has completely dried.
• Paint is a budget and easy option for wall decoration. At home, it is best to use water-based paints - they allow steam to pass through and allow the material to "breathe". For finishing, use any paint that is suitable for working with wood. Be careful with water-based paints - in some cases, particle boards can be deformed. To avoid such trouble, conduct a small test on a small section of the panel.
• Wallpaper coating. Due to the oils and waxes in the composition of the boards, wallpaper cannot be glued to a bare surface. Before gluing, apply a mixture of wallpaper paste and PVA to the walls.

Based on the above, it can be argued that when finishing OSB panels, you can use any materials suitable for working with wooden bases. At the same time, particle boards are strong enough, have a smooth and even surface and are able to withstand heavy loads.

Such panels are easy to install and will well save financial costs, as well as physical strength. It is thanks to these qualities that OSB boards are becoming more and more popular and gradually begin to displace similar materials for wall decoration - drywall and MDF.