particle board...

[jasonsdad]

i am the one with "removing batten strips" post. we decided to put up new sheetrock.

took some walls down today and the outside wall is also particle board like the floor..is this common for an outside wall?

by the front door the particle board was disintegrated from water..and there is no house wrap..our project just got much bigger.

i am surprised since this was built in 2002..aren't there codes now?

im off to google.

kristin

[bobfather99]

Do you know the manufacturer of the home??

[Greg]

Is it particle board or OSB? Particle board is nothing but sawdust glued together under pressure. OSB is actually wood chips glued under pressure. OSB is a far superior choice (Ply wood is the best) I have never seen particle board used as sheathing. There was heavy usage of T111 siding in mobiles in the 80's & 90's and there was also class action lawsuit involving siding.
If you have factory vinyl siding I would almost bet that you have OSB.
If you can't tell for sure what you have, just snap a few pictures and post them.

Greg

[jasonsdad]

it is a sw 2002 liberty.

would osb disintegrate from water? by the front door its just gone you see the siding and no house wrap..after removing insulation.

ive asked my husband 10x "are you sure it's not osb" he is a decent DIY'er. we've layed floors, replaced windows, doors, knocked down walls, redid our kitchen, beefed up beams to put new plywood in a bathroom etc. in our current home.

thanks,
kristin

[bobfather99]

Osb CAN fall apart over time, but it would have to be a major leak, and you would see SOME material leftover(sawdust, wood chips) plus the house wrap would still be there in some way. Is it possible that someone did a crappy repair before you bought the home??? Post pics if you can, so we can check it out.

[1987Commodore]

A lot of people use the term particle board to describe osb (oriented strand board.) As referenced here, osb will look like large wood chips and shavings glued together. You can clearly see that it is wood. You can get slivers from handling it. Particle board will have a smooth surface texture and be made up of very small wood chips, sawdust, and glue. It really doesn't look like wood. Particle board is really allergic to water, and will disintegrate quickly if wet. Osb, while not as good as solid wood, will last a long time, as long as it is not constantly wet. Osb is commonly used for roofing and sheathing under shingles and vinyl siding.

[Greg]

Here's a link to help tell you what you have.

http://www.lowes.com/cd_OSB+MDF+&+Parti ... e_42276845_

Greg

[jasonsdad]

it's particleboard...

my dh is in the process of taking down the interior walls. he's checking behind each piece of insulation to see what's going on and did find one sheet of osb at one of the corners in the front bedroom.

we're thinking like someone here said there was a bad repair of the front door where the particle board disintegrated. we think they put up a new door because some wiring inside was moved around the other side of the door.

i really never doubted that is was particleboard but just don't understand why..

bad repair still doesn't explain why the home was built with particleboard for the sheathing?

what would you do?

thanks,
kristin

i will update on the project and if we find random sheets of osb here and there

[Greg]

I'd like to say that I can't believe it, But I've seen too many people do STUPID things. Ask me about a 400 pound floor saw falling off of a roof some time.

Greg

[jasonsdad]

is the manufacturer, liberty, known to be cheap?

my dh found another sheet of osb in another corner...just one in the midst of many more pcs of particleboard...

kristin
sw 2002 liberty

[Greg]

I believe Liberty is one of the "middle of the road" builders. They have been around for 60 years so they must be doing something right.
http://www.mobilehome.net/manufacturer_ ... _homes.htm

Greg

[bobfather99]

Sad to say, many repairs are only as good as the ones doing them. Great idea to take things apart and have a better look. Give the plumbing/wiring a check, see if anything was put together that might be unsafe.