Why should builders choose SterlingOSB Zero over plywood?

West Fraser’s SterlingOSB Zero, the beautiful, layered board which can be seen in funky restaurants, earthy exhibitions and cool shops is also seen when you walk past building sites as the bare or painted hoardings. It’s a great advertising panel for housebuilders, after all – and we have even seen vast murals and beautiful artwork on show.

All very “arty”! In its normal life, OSB is a fundamental engineered panel used in most new and refurbishment building projects. In technical lingo, it is made as precision-engineered square edge, and tongue & groove boards, which are used in flooring, roofing and offsite cassette or timber frame manufacturing.  But plywood can probably do the same jobs.  It is not as pretty but that’s not always a top priority. OSB is best for both practical and economic reasons; and in our own brand, the Zero tells you that there is no added formaldehyde in the formulation which is important for the health of contractors – and building occupants. As a bonus, zero formaldehyde resins are made of bio-based feedstocks rather than petroleum-based alternatives; which gives them a lower carbon footprint.

As well, the environmental benefits to SterlingOSB Zero reach further than plywood. While OSB is really popular in terms of technical benefits, in these days of environmental awareness and Net Zero, SterlingOSB Zero is assisting the construction industry to cut carbon emissions.  The board is manufactured from a natural product which in itself locks in CO2 from the atmosphere, with the myriad strands of softwood coming from forest thinnings and sawmills’ off-cuts. Plywood, on the other hand, needs the peeling of much larger tree trunks taking longer to grow. 

And, of course, our timber comes from responsibly managed forests, mainly here in the UK, so we know all our chains of custody meaning stocks are conserved by replanting and carefully planned cropping. Our plants are near our forests, and we also have a new rail system coming to Inverness. We only buy renewable electricity for the sites and has switched from gas power to biomass for its drying process.

After leaving the factory gates, because SterlingOSB Zero is precision-made, there is less waste on building sites or in modular building fabrication, so the associated costs of disposal to landfill are significantly mitigated.  Contractors also report lower waste in handling because SterlingOSB Zero is more resilient to damage than rival products like plywood and is much easier to align when used for tasks like sheathing or laying floors.  The accuracy of manufacture is especially good for producing SIPs panels with no need to “size” boards in the factory or suffer misalignment during installation.

All West Fraser panel products produced in the UK are net carbon negative and manufactured in mills that have obtained the coveted environmental ISO 14001 accreditation.  Responsibly sourced, the panels are FSC® certified (C012533) and created from locally grown timber, cutting embodied carbon from transportation.

For further information, call 01786 812 921 or visit uk.westfraser.com