I had thought Hemlock was a good equivalent to oak. Have others had this experience with it being weak?
[QUOTE=Plainandtall;7525701]
I would be concerned about the long term beauty of a plywood exposed to kicks. Although plywood is very strong/safe as far as a horse can’t kick through it- I’d think that the surface ply could break/splinter off and start to delaminate. At least with board stock- there is more of the same under a splinter.
There are probably some horses who are gentle enough with their walls that it would be fine and look beautiful- and there are other horses who would wreck it.
I’d like to see pics too![/QUOTE]
3/4" plywood is a good budget choice. You can get around the chewing and kick dent problem by painting the plywood stall walls with at least 2 coats of a very good grade paint. This eliminates the wood smell so the chewers are less interested, and also lets you fix any started holes or kick dents with Exterior grade spackle (which is much tougher than interior) so you can just repaint over the repair to totally hide it.
My barn is a remodel of a previous workshop with drywall on the walls. I laid 3/4 CDX plywood over that, painted, and those stall walls still looks great after 20 years with numerous repairs.
[QUOTE=Jim_in_PA;7527467]
OSB is an underlayment product and was never designed to be used exposed on walls in any environment…as noted, it will shred very quickly and easily from abuse. It’s not a substitute for quality plywood, that’s for sure![/QUOTE]
Yes, and a sledgehammer test will make a big open hole in 3/4" OSB, while same thickness of plywood will merely dent.
[QUOTE=geog272;7527654]
I had thought Hemlock was a good equivalent to oak. Have others had this experience with it being weak?[/QUOTE]
Hemlock is a softwood (evergreen) and oak is a hardwood (deciduous). They are not even close in density and hardness. Hem/Fir is used in construction lumber for more stress-bearing functions, but is only a little harder than pine. I agree with gumtree about it’s characteristics, too. Both Red Oak and White oak are considerably stronger. White oak also has natural resistance to rot and insects because it will not wick up water…the pores are not like soda-straws like they are in red oak.
[QUOTE=Plumcreek;7527686]
Yes, and a sledgehammer test will make a big open hole in 3/4" OSB, while same thickness of plywood will merely dent.[/QUOTE]
This here shows what happened to 1/2 OSB http://www.lemen.com/qa221.html .
According to a bunch of hurricane safety sites OSB is 30% weaker per thickness, 3/4" plywood is the minimum thickness to pass the small missile impact test, where the missile won’t pass through, which is a 9 lb 2x4 traveling at 34 MPH.
I’ve not had a problem with my situation so far.
built my barn 8 years ago, lined the walls with treated 3/4" plywood, 8 feet up. still looks great. no beavering (horses can’t reach the edge).
Well, my barn has 3/4 marine grade plywood lining the interior walls, with 2x6 Doug fir filler in the stall fronts. This arrangement has withstood kicks, body slams, a casting, vigorous butt scratching by a 1400lb. warmblood. The plywood sits directly against (well, purlins between) the metal siding. There isn’t a crack or mark on the plywood. It is holding up well, and it looks great (stained to match the 2x6s).
On the other hand, the boarding barn my jumper is at has had multiple Doug fir tongue/groove 2x6s broken by kicking horses. One in my horse’s stall (kicked by the horse next to him. The nature of knotty 2x6 vs. the strand board structure of real plywood (not OSB) seems to hold up.
We used 1-1/8" tongue and groove plywood. I think they use it for sub flooring? Anyhow. Ours is 7 years old and has held up well even with a rotten kicker who did leave a couple of dents but never kicked through and she is rotten. We only used it to line the perimeter not the dividing walls.
