GDE,T200,IPS.0 12/17/01 12:03 PM Page 1 APA The Engineered Wood Association INDUSTRIAL USE GUIDE INDUSTRIAL PANEL SELECTION GUIDE GDE,T200,IPS.0 12/17/01 12:03 PM Page 2 APA The Engineered Wood Association DO THE RIGHT THING RIGHT™ Wood is good. It is the earth’s natural, energy efficient and renewable building material. Engineered wood is a better use of wood. It uses less wood to make more wood products. ORIZED BY APA IS PROHIBITED BY THE U.S. COPYRIGHT LAWS. THE U.S. IS PROHIBITED BY APA ORIZED BY That’s why using APA trademarked plywood, oriented strand board and APA EWS glued laminated timbers is the right thing to do. A few facts about wood. I We’re not running out of trees. One-third of the United States land base – 731 million acres – is covered by forests. About two-thirds of that 731 million acres is suitable for repeated planting and harvesting of timber. But only about half of the land suitable for growing timber is open to logging. Most of that harvestable acreage also is open to other uses, such as camping, hiking, hunting, etc. I We’re growing more wood every day. American landowners plant more than two billion trees every year. In addition, millions of trees seed naturally. The forest products industry, which comprises about 15 percent of forestland ownership, is responsible for 41 percent of replanted forest acreage. That works out to more than one billion trees a year, or about three million trees planted every day. This high rate of replanting accounts for the fact that each year, 27 percent more timber is grown than is harvested. I Manufacturing wood is energy Percent of Percent of efficient. Wood products made up Material Production Energy Use 47 percent of all industrial raw materials Wood 47 4 manufactured in the United States, yet consumed only 4 percent of the energy Steel 23 48 needed to manufacture all industrial raw Aluminum 2 8 materials, according to a 1987 study. I Good news for a healthy planet. For every ton of wood grown, a young forest produces 1.07 tons of oxygen and absorbs 1.47 tons of carbon dioxide. Wood. It’s the right product for the environment. NOTICE: • ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. • ANY COPYING, MODIFICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR OTHER USE OF THIS PUBLICATION OTHER THAN AS EXPRESSLY AUTH THAN AS EXPRESSLY OTHER USE OF THIS PUBLICATION DISTRIBUTION OR OTHER MODIFICATION, • ANY COPYING, • ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The recommendations in this guide apply only to panels that bear the APA APA trademark. Only panels THE ENGINEERED WOOD ASSOCIATION bearing the APA trademark are subject to the Association’s quality RATED SHEATHING15/32 INCH 32/16 auditing program. SIZED FOR SPACING EXPOSURE 1 000 PS 1-95 C-D PRP-108 APA – THE ENGINEERED WOOD ASSOCIATION APA ©1997 GDE,T200,IPS.0 12/17/01 12:03 PM Page 3 CONTENTS Specifying APA Panels for Industrial Applications . .4 Using This Guide . .5 APA Industrial Category Index . .5 lywood has been widely used in industrial Characteristic Numbers . .6 applications since its introduction in 1905. Specifying Custom APA Industrial Panels . .6 For decades industrial users have fabricated P Specifying Substitute Panels . .6 barricades, bins, crates, containers, shelves Special Requirements . .6 and countless other manufactured items out of APA Panel Characteristics . .7 plywood. And as new engineered wood products Surface Characteristics such as oriented strand board (OSB) and composite (Face and Back) . .7 panels were developed, industrial users adopted Panel Face and Back those materials, as well. Characteristics . .10 But until now, application and specification First Crossband Characteristics . .12 guidelines for industrial uses of wood structural Inner Layer Characteristics . .14 panels have been hard to find. APA’s Industrial Sample Specification . .16 Panel Selection Guide allows industrial users to APA Panel Translator select panel products by precisely identifying the Chart . .19 characteristics required for specific applications. Plywood/Composite Panel Characteristics The system also gives specifiers the chance to Locator Chart . .20 generate new panel grades that may not be OSB Characteristics comparable with currently available typical Locator Chart . .22 construction grades. APA’s Industrial Panel Glossary of Terms . .24 Selection Guide gives industrial users the About APA . .27 opportunity to partner with suppliers and APA For More Information . .27 member mills to create new panel products designed to meet the requirements of specific users and specific applications. For engineering and design information relating to industrial applications, see the list of APA titles on Page 27. GDE,T200,IPS.0 12/17/01 12:03 PM Page 4 SPECIFYING OSB APA PANELS OSB is made of compressed strands of PLYWOOD FOR INDUSTRIAL wood arranged in layers (usually three to APPLICATIONS five) oriented at right angles. The orien- tation of layers provides the same advan- Specifying the right panel grade is the tages as the cross-lamination of layers of first step in a successful application. veneer in plywood. Most OSB panels are With proper specification, APA panels smooth on one side and screen-textured provide excellent performance at a com- for slip-resistance on the other side. petitive cost. Understanding the types Composite of panel products available is crucial to a Composite panels (often referred to as successful specification. APA COM-PLY®) are manufactured by APA Panels may be manufactured in one compressing small pieces of wood fiber of three ways – as plywood, oriented between wood veneers. Combining strand board (OSB), or composite pan- these two forms of wood fiber allows els. All three types of APA panels are efficient use of the timber resource and available in a wide range of grades with retains the characteristics of wood grain a variety of characteristics. on the face and back of the panels. OSB Plywood APA Industrial Series Numbers Plywood is the original wood structural Each of the three panel types can be panel. It is composed of thin sheets of identified by their Industrial Series veneer, or plies, arranged in layers. Numbers, which appear in the trade- Plywood always has an odd number of mark stamp (following page). These layers, each consisting of one or more numbers identify only the type of panel, veneers. The layers are cross-laminated, not the grade or specific panel character- with the wood grain running in alternat- istics. The panel grades and characteris- ing directions in adjacent layers. Cross- tics are identified by the Industrial lamination maximizes strength and Category Index (ICI), which is stiffness and minimizes the potential for described on the following page. The swelling and shrinking. ICI is more critical to industrial speci- fiers than the Industrial Series Number. However, the Industrial Series Number may be helpful if a specific panel type is COMPOSITE required for an application. The series numbers for the three panel types are: Plywood – APA Series 1-700 Composite – APA Series 1-800 OSB – APA Series 1-900 4 GDE,T200,IPS.0 12/17/01 12:03 PM Page 5 USING THIS GUIDE To determine the Industrial Category “no” answer requires no action. Some Index for an application, fill out the four applications may allow the specifier to The four worksheets in this brochure worksheets on pages 9, 11, 13 and 15. choose between plywood composite will help you identify the APA Industrial One worksheet is provided for each of panels or OSB. Other applications Category Index (ICI) required for spe- the four categories of characteristics may preclude OSB. cific applications through the use of listed above. The worksheets consist of The worksheets are printed on a panel Characteristic Numbers. a series of questions that are answered specially coated paper that makes them either “yes” or “no.” Separate columns reusable. Use a non-permanent felt APA Industrial Category Index are provided for plywood/composite tipped pen to write on the worksheets. The Industrial Category Index is a panels and OSB. If the answer to a ques- Erase them with tissues, napkins, series of four numbers that appear in tion is “yes,” circle the numbers in the paper towels or a cloth. the APA trademark stamp. Each number columns to the right of the question. A relates to specific panel characteristics in one of four categories. The first number relates to panel face characteristics, the SAMPLE WORKSHEET second to panel back characteristics, the third to first crossband characteristics WORKSHEET #1 and the fourth to inner layer characteris- PANEL FACE CHARACTERISTICS Application: Date: tics. Individually, these numbers are Characteristic Number Question Circle numbers in columns at right if answer is “Yes” Plywood/Composite OSB referred to as Characteristic Numbers. 1 Is a high density overlay (HDO) required? 14 – When they appear collectively, in 2 Is a medium density overlay (MDO) required? 13 – sequence, they are called the ICI. For 3 Is a “best” face required? 94 4 Must splits/voids be 3" wide or less? 1 4 industrial specifiers, the ICI is the most 5 Must splits/voids be 1-1/2" wide or less? 3 4 important piece of information in the 6 Must splits/voids be 1/2" wide or less? 5 4 trademark stamp. 7 Must splits/voids be 1/4" wide or less? 6 4 8 Must splits/voids be 1/16" wide or less? 9 4 Trademark stamps that contain the ICI 9 Must knots be 2" wide or less? 2 4 may appear as dual stamps that include 10 Must knots be 1-1/2" wide or less? 3 4 11 Must knots be 1" wide or less? 4 4 construction grade information, or as 12 Must knot holes be 3" wide or less? 1 4 single stamps without construction 13 Must knot holes be 2" wide or less? 2 4 grade information.