Attribute Schema Library
Attribute schemabuilding materials & lumber

Plywood & OSB Attributes

Plywood and OSB are structural panels sold by the sheet and by the unit through lumber yards, pro dealers, and two-step distributors. Buyers are framers, truss and component shops, concrete formers, cabinet shops, and the estimators pricing their takeoffs. The two panels compete head-on: at the same Span Rating, PS 2 treats them as interchangeable for sheathing and subfloor.

The data is hard because the panel's identity lives in an ink stamp on its face, not in a supplier file. One APA trademark carries panel grade, Span Rating, bond classification, mill thickness declaration, Performance Category, mill number, and reference standards — seven fields that arrive as a photograph. Mills publish one-page datasheets; distributors retype them.

Thickness is the worst of it. PS 1 and PS 2 moved to Performance Category, so a panel stamped 15/32 CATEGORY with a declared mill thickness of 0.451 in gets listed as "1/2 in." Trade nicknames compound it: "CDX" collapses veneer grade C-D and Exposure 1 bond into one token no filter can parse — and half the market reads it as exterior.

Core

Every SKU needs these. Without them the record is not a product, it is a row.

Panel Composition
enum
OSB

Plywood and OSB share Span Ratings but not behavior when wet: OSB swells at cut edges, plywood dries faster. Burned buyers filter this first.

Panel Grade
enum
APA Rated Sheathing

The application field. Rated Sheathing, Sturd-I-Floor, Underlayment and Concrete Form are not substitutes — the grade sets which span table applies.

Performance Category
enum
23/32 Performance Category

The governed thickness value on the stamp and in every code span table. Not a measurement: 15/32 CATEGORY declares a mill thickness of 0.451 in.

Span Rating
enum
48/24

The number the framer and the inspector check. 32/16 means 32 in o.c. rafters or 16 in o.c. joists. Sturd-I-Floor uses a single o.c. number.

Bond Classification
enum
Exposure 1

Exposure 1 tolerates construction delays before cover-up. Only Exterior is rated for permanent weather exposure. This is the classic CDX mistake.

Edge Profile
enum
Tongue & Groove

T&G long edges remove the need for blocking under subfloor edges; square edge needs H-clips on roofs. Drives labor and net coverage width.

Panel Size (Width x Length)
enum · in
48 x 96 in

Drives takeoff, unit count and truck loading. 4x8 dominates, but 4x9 and 4x10 ship for tall walls and long subfloor runs.

Manufacturer Part Number
identifier
OSB-716-4896-SQ

The only key that survives across mill datasheets, the distributor ERP and channel item setup. Commodity panels get re-sourced mill to mill mid-year.

GTIN / UPC
identifier
00012345678905

Required by big-box item setup and Amazon Business. Panels sold by the piece need a piece-level GTIN; units and lifts need their own.

Differentiating

What buyers actually compare on. This is where catalogs win or lose the filter.

Face / Back Veneer Grade
enum
C-D

The appearance and repair spec on plywood. A-C takes paint, C-D is sheathing, C-Plugged is underlayment. Finish and form buyers filter here first.

Structural I
boolean
true

Engineered shear wall and diaphragm schedules call it out by name. Same Span Rating, but restricted veneer grades and Group 1 species in critical plies.

Face Species / PS 1 Species Group
enum
Southern Yellow Pine (Group 1)

Southern Yellow Pine and Douglas-fir are Group 1. Fastener holding and stiffness differ from aspen-furnish OSB. Regional buyers specify by species.

Net Coverage Width
number · in
47.5

T&G panels net 47-1/2 in of face coverage, and SIZED FOR SPACING panels ship just under 48 x 96 so joints can gap. Takeoffs need the net, not the nominal.

Overlay / Integrated Barrier
enum
Factory-applied WRB (taped seams)

HDO and MDO overlays for concrete forms and signage; factory-applied WRB panels replace housewrap and change the install sequence entirely.

Compliance & identifiers

Standards, regulatory data, and the identifiers channels reject you for missing.

Grade Stamp / Product Standard
enum
PS 1-22 / PRP-108 / HUD-UM-40c, APA mill 000

The inspector's field check: PS 1 for structural plywood, PS 2 for performance-rated panels, plus PRP-108, HUD-UM-40c, the qualifying agency and mill number.

Treatment Classification
enum
FRT Interior Type A (ASTM E84 FSI 25 or less)

FRT Interior Type A holds an ASTM E84 flame spread index of 25 or less; preservative-treated panels carry an AWPA Use Category. Both derate design values.

Formaldehyde Regulatory Status
enum
TSCA Title VI exempt (PS 2 structural)

Structural plywood (PS 1) and OSB (PS 2) are exempt from TSCA Title VI. Hardwood and decorative plywood under ANSI/HPVA HP-1 is covered and needs a certificate.

Country of Origin
enum
United States

Required on every channel item setup, and hardwood plywood from China carries antidumping and countervailing duty exposure. Mills switch mid-season.

The fields that aren't in the schema at all

What most plywood & osb catalogs are missing.

The table above is the schema most catalogs already have. These are the attributes that usually aren't in it — each one surfaced by a signal from the live market rather than by an audit of what's already there. This is what Anglera's Schema Foundry does on a real catalog, in this category.

Supplier signal
+ Net Coverage Width (Sized for Spacing)

T&G grade stamps and mill datasheets declare a 47-1/2 in net face width; the listing for the same SKU says 48 x 96. There is no catalog field that can hold the net dimension.

Estimators size takeoffs on 48 in of coverage and come up short on large subfloor decks — a same-day fill order, or a return of the overage.

Search signal
+ Bond Classification (as its own field)

'CDX' ships as one grade string silently encoding both C-D veneer and Exposure 1 bond. Buyers searching 'exterior plywood' get CDX hits with no field to separate Exterior from Exposure 1.

Exposure 1 panels bought as exterior fail under permanent weather exposure. The claim lands on the distributor, not the mill, after the wall is up.

Competitor signal
+ Structural I

Engineers name Structural I in shear wall and diaphragm schedules. Filter rails expose Span Rating and thickness but carry no Structural I flag — it survives only in description text.

Counter staff sell a same-Span-Rating Rated Sheathing panel against a Structural I callout. The inspector red-tags the shear wall after it is sheathed.

Supplier signal
+ Face Species / PS 1 Species Group

Mill datasheets state Southern Yellow Pine or Douglas-fir on every panel; the same SKU sourced from two mills lists neither. Buyers phone the counter to ask which mill shipped.

Truss plants and component shops specify by species for fastener holding and stiffness. Without the field, the RFQ goes to whoever can answer it.

Marketplace signal
+ Formaldehyde Regulatory Status

Marketplace item setup asks a yes/no TSCA Title VI question for every wood panel. Structural PS 1/PS 2 panels are exempt, but catalogs carry no field that can say so affirmatively.

Listings stall or get pulled at item setup because 'exempt' cannot be stated. Hardwood plywood ships without the certificate compliance teams ask for.

How Schema Foundry finds these

Messy in, governed out.

The same value, spelled every way building materials & lumber suppliers spell it. A filter only works once they agree.

Performance Category
1/2"15/320.451 in1/2 in nominal15/32 CAT12mm
15/32 Performance Category

Code span tables key off Performance Category. A record carrying only nominal 1/2 in cannot be matched to a design table.

Bond Classification
CDXEXP 1Exposure 1Exterior GlueExt. GlueWaterproof glue
Exposure 1

Exterior glue is not Exterior bond. The trade uses them interchangeably; only Exterior is rated for permanent weather exposure.

Span Rating
32/1632-16321632/16 SR24 ocSturd-I-Floor 24
32/16

Rated Sheathing uses roof/floor fractions; Sturd-I-Floor uses a single o.c. number. Mixing both in one field breaks the facet.

Edge Profile
T&GTGT+GTongue and GrooveSQ EDGESquare
Tongue & Groove

T&G drives net coverage width and whether blocking is needed. Six spellings across mills means the facet returns a fraction of real stock.

What buyers ask

Every one of these should be answerable from the attributes above. If it isn't, that's a gap.

  • Is 7/16 OSB rated for rafters 24 inches on center?
  • Can these sit exposed on the deck through a wet week, or do I need Exterior bond?
  • My engineer's schedule says Structural I — is this Structural I or just Rated Sheathing?
  • Is 15/32 the same thing as 1/2 inch plywood?
  • The T&G sheets — are they really 48 wide, or do I lose coverage every course?
  • Is this Southern Yellow Pine or fir? My fastener schedule is written for SYP.
  • Does it have an APA stamp with a mill number? The inspector wants to see it.
  • Do you have a TSCA Title VI certificate, or is structural sheathing exempt?

What channels require

The same SKU, different mandatory fields per destination.

Distributor site and counter / ERP search
Panel CompositionPanel GradePerformance CategorySpan RatingBond ClassificationEdge Profile
Home Depot / Lowe's Pro item setup (GDSN)
GTIN / UPCManufacturer Part NumberPanel SizePanel GradeCountry of Origin
Amazon Business
GTIN / UPCManufacturer Part NumberPanel CompositionPanel SizeCountry of Origin
Architect / engineer submittal packages
Grade Stamp / Product StandardSpan RatingBond ClassificationStructural ITreatment Classification

Plywood & OSB data, in practice

Why does the catalog say 1/2 in but the grade stamp says 15/32?

PS 1 and PS 2 dropped nominal thickness in favor of Performance Category. A panel stamped 15/32 CATEGORY carries a mill thickness declaration — 0.451 in on a typical stamp — and every code span table keys off the category, not a caliper reading. '1/2 in' survives because that is what the yard calls it. Carry both: Performance Category as the governed structural field, nominal thickness as a search synonym so a buyer typing '1/2 plywood' still lands on the right panel. If you carry only nominal, the record cannot be matched to a design table, and the buyer has to call the counter to find out what they are actually getting.

Is CDX rated for exterior exposure?

No. CDX is C-D veneer grades with an Exposure 1 bond. Exposure 1 means the glue bond is waterproof, so the panel tolerates construction delays or moisture before it is covered — it is not a rating for permanent weather exposure. APA's own datasheet flags this as a common and erroneous substitution. Only panels marked Exterior are bonded and veneered for long-term weather exposure. The catalog fix is structural: stop storing 'CDX' as a grade and split it into Face/Back Veneer Grade (C-D) and Bond Classification (Exposure 1), so a buyer filtering for Exterior never sees it in the first place.

Are plywood and OSB interchangeable at the same span rating?

For code purposes at the same Span Rating and Performance Category, yes — PS 2 is a performance standard, so 7/16 24/16 OSB and 7/16 24/16 plywood carry the same rated load for sheathing and subfloor. They are not identical in service. OSB is slower to dry and swells at cut edges when it gets wet; plywood dries faster and shows less edge swell, which is why it still wins on concrete forms, repeated-wetting jobs and marine work. Buyers who have been burned filter on Panel Composition first and never look at Span Rating — which is why composition needs to be a governed field, not something inferred from the product title.

Does TSCA Title VI apply to plywood and OSB sheathing?

Not to structural panels. EPA exempted structural plywood made to PS 1 and performance-rated panels made to PS 2, along with other structural engineered wood products, because they are bonded with moisture-resistant adhesives. Hardwood and decorative plywood under ANSI/HPVA HP-1 is a different matter — it is covered and needs a compliance certificate through the chain. If your category tree puts both under one 'Plywood' node, the schema needs a Formaldehyde Regulatory Status field that can carry 'TSCA Title VI exempt (structural)' as an affirmative value, because channels ask the question for every wood panel and silence reads as non-compliance.

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