The boom in the construction industry has created a shortage of materials. This encouraged innovation to get alternatives such as the use of plywood. It is now popular in the building world for its various properties that can’t be matched by traditional materials like bricks, natural wood, and plastics. A combination of properties such as flexibility, lightness, and exceptional strength is making plywood match various requirements in the construction industry, making it one of the best building materials.
Understanding Plywood
It is engineered wood made by stacking various thin slices of natural wood. Plywood is readily and easily available everywhere to make its way into the construction industry. This type of wood comes in various options including decorative, hard, soft, and marine to meet various construction requirements. Additionally, plywood is applicable in furniture making, interior design, making partitions, doors, windows, and structural frameworks.
Plywood features desired in the construction industry
Fire resistance
Treating plywood with a combination of non-combustible materials like plasterboard or fibrous cement makes it fire resistant. The chemical coating makes plywood resist oxidation hence helping to lessen the spread of fire. This plywood feature makes it ideal for structures likely to be affected by the fire to keep your valuables safe.
Strength and stability
Plywood has exceptional structural strength from the source timber. Additionally, laminating the plywood enhances its stability and strength. Sourcing from quality plywood suppliers in India allows getting plywood to match various construction requirements. Gluing thin plies at a right angle to each other according to the grain pattern during manufacturing makes plywood resist splitting. It also offers uniform strength with enhanced stability.
Plywood doesn’t change in size resulting from a change in humidity or moisture content, unlike natural wood. It doesn’t contract or expand. So, plywood is ideal for structural projects such as partitions, flooring, formwork, walls, shelves, and cupboards. This is because of its exceptional stability and strength.
Resistance to impact
Cross lamination during the manufacturing of plywood gives it high tensile strength. This results from the distribution of force to a large surface area which significantly lessens tensile stress. So, plywood withstands overloading more than its designated load. This feature makes plywood ideal for concrete formwork and flooring projects. Plywood is appropriate for making floors for various properties including those prone to heavy wear.
Bendability
One of the most distinguishable features of plywood from natural wood is its ability to bend. Special types of plywood bend easily without damage or breaking. Another good thing about plywood is manufacturing to match particular requirements. This allows producing plywood with various thicknesses to match particular requirements. The thickness depends on the number of veneers used to make a plywood sheet.
Extra veneer layers enhance plywood strength although few veneer layers make plywood more flexible and bendable. The variation in plywood shape and size allows use in furniture projects, especially for curved surfaces. Additionally, variation in thickness allows the use of plywood for paneling work, curved formwork, and ceilings.
Resists water and chemical
In the manufacturing process of plies, there’s treating of veneers using a special substance to make plywood resistant to chemicals and water. Treating plywood using waterproof glue with other chemical compounds creates marine-grade plywood for making boats. Water and resistance of plywood make it ideal for furniture, formwork for concrete projects, and outdoor garden furniture such as:
- Benches
- Tables
- Chairs
- Pergolas
- Arbours
- Planters
- Porches
Thermal and sound insulation
During the production process of plywood, the addition of urea-formaldehyde resin adhesives significantly enhances its thermal properties. Still during production, gluing thin plies together using resin adhesives enhances plywood’s sound and thermal insulation properties. Insulation plywood reduces cooling and heating costs. Using plywood ceilings, roofing, wall cladding, and flooring offer exceptional heat resistance for its insulation properties.
Shear strength
The use of treated veneers on plywood panels enhances its shear strength. After veneer treatment, the plywood’s shear strength doubles that of regular wood for bracing wooden structures. This is because of its lateral load resistance. Plywood’s shear strength comes in handy for use as gussets in portal frames, bracing panels, and wooden structure fabricated beams.
Sustainability
Reputable plywood manufacturers source wood for making plywood from sustainable sources. They often work with responsible logging contractors who harvest from timber sellers practising sustainable forestry. This environmentally conscious approach ensures the wood used in plywood production comes from renewable sources managed for long-term Timber Uses. Additionally, less wood goes to waste during the manufacturing process of plywood compared to making regular timber boards. The efficient use of wood, combined with the utilization of plywood that goes through ethical manufacturing practices and is free from harmful Formaldehyde adhesives, makes plywood a good choice for the environment.
Another aspect of the sustainability of plywood is its affordability. Apart from making it ethical, it is friendly on the pocket. Plywood is made from various types of softwood, hardwood, bamboo, or a blend of various types of wood. The rule of thumb is to get your supplies from a manufacturer whose manufacturing process is ethical and gets wood from a sustainable source locally, for all your bamboo flooring installation and other flooring needs.
Wrapping up
Plywood is very important in the furniture and construction industry. Apart from meeting budgetary needs, it is environmentally friendly to encourage green living. Additionally, its various properties like bendability allow use in complex design projects.