Sheathing - Lumber And House Construction Flooring

This is the material you will stand on, while walking around on a wood framed floor system. Sheathing is often referred to as underlayment. Most home builders use plywood or oriented strand board for sheathing. The picture below provides you with an excellent example of diagonal 1 x 6 sheathing, that was used in homes before the 1970s.

Floor Joist Layout Problems Create Sheathing Problems

Make sure that you spend enough time, planning your floor joist layout correctly. A correctly laid out floor joist framing plan can reduce the amount of sheathing waste and time spent installing it. 16 inch on center measurements work great for sheets of plywood or oriented strand board that are 8 foot long.

You can also use 24 inch on center floor joist layouts, but you will probably need to increase the thickness of your floor sheathing. 16 inch on center floor joist measurements and 3/4" plywood, usually provide you with sturdy floors.

What's An On Center Measurement?

This would be the perpendicular distance from one floor joist to the next one. For example if you installed one floor joist that ran parallel to the right side of the building, you would continue to run the rest of your floor joist parallel to the right side, spacing them 16 inches apart, until you worked your way to the left side of the building.

You wouldn't actually be spacing them 16 inches part, because you're on center measurements are from the center of each floor joist to the center of the next one.

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