7 Different Types of Engineered Wood (with Pictures)

Wood is a single of the most popular creating materials around the world, making the most of a lengthy and storied historical past. Even though not fairly as enduring as stone, wooden is utilised to develop residences, furniture, flooring, and much more. With wooden a lot more in demand from customers than at any time, advancements in technological innovation have gifted us artificial wooden that will help to ease environmental considerations.

Engineered wooden, also recognized as made board, is a kind of wood designed from sawdust, trimming, and other byproduct parts from classic lumber processing. These parts are put jointly with adhesives, binders, and other components to generate a reliable sort of wood which is valuable for many of the identical applications as traditionally milled wood.

There are quite a few sorts accessible with their personal composition as effectively as professionals and disadvantages. Let’s check out some of the most prevalent kinds of engineered wooden.

The 7 Different Types of Engineered Wood

1. Plywood

7 Different Types of Engineered Wood (with Pictures)
Image Credit: Dmitry Markov152, Shutterstock

Plywood is the 1st and most nicely-recognized engineered wooden due to the fact it is so versatile for indoor and outdoor tasks alike. Plywood is built by cross-laminating wood veneer sheets utilizing h2o-resistant adhesives merged with warmth and stress.

What can make plywood so functional as a building substance is that it is built with a cross-grain design that lends it a ton of dimensional security compared to other woods that can collapse or crack alongside grain styles.

The main concerns with plywood are that it has a tough floor, so it needs to be sealed or completed until you are employing it as a framing content.

Pros
  • Very strong
  • Durable
  • Extremely economical
Cons
  • Hard to cut because of density
  • Has to be finished/sealed
  • Not as strong as timber-derived wood

2. High-Density Fiberboard (HDF)

7 Different Types of Engineered Wood (with Pictures)
Image Credit: Andrey Sayfutdinov, Shutterstock

HDF is very tough wooden designed from pulped wooden waste, chips, and other squander merchandise. The squander is pressed collectively with resins and adhesives at incredibly high temperatures to bind it together into an incredibly dense and powerful form.

HDF is at times preferable to plywood simply because it’s much better. Another area exactly where HDF beats plywood is its ability to face up to shrinking and inflammation from humidity and temperature alterations when effectively treated.

HDF is often utilized as an engineered substitute to hardwood flooring due to the fact of its large durability factor, furthermore it has a easy surface area that tends to make it easier to minimize and paint.

Pros
  • Moisture-resistant
  • More durable than plywood
  • Smooth surface
Cons
  • Doesn’t have a wood grain appearance
  • Vulnerable to high heat

3. Particle Board

7 Different Types of Engineered Wood (with Pictures)
Image Credit: Nor Gal, Shutterstock

Particle board is extensively known for its trademark chipped physical appearance. It looks like that since the particle board is quietly virtually just a bunch of sawmill trimming, sawdust, and wood chips compressed together with artificial binders.

Particle board is 1 of the least expensive engineered woods, which is simply because it’s not as tough as other folks like plywood or composite board. It is, nevertheless, extremely inexpensive and light. For mass-made home furniture that only sees gentle use, it’s an ideal choice.

Pros
  • Cheapest engineered wood
  • Plentiful
  • Lightweight
Cons
  • Weakest engineered wood
  • Wears out more quickly than other woods
  • Low moisture-resistance

4. Blockboard

Blockboard is a type of engineered wooden created by sandwiching wooden strips together in between levels of wooden veneer. You can recognize the blockboard simply because, on the sides, it seems that the board has 3 or 5 related but distinctive layers. Blockboard utilizes a softwood core, which makes it a wonderful lightweight wooden to operate with.

Blockboard is far better than particle board for multipiece initiatives because blockboard can hold jointly with screws extremely nicely. However, it’s not practically as sturdy as plywood is. It tends to make up for that lack of strength by becoming straightforward to reduce.

Carpenters hate this wood since the core of the wood has a little hole. When nailing or screwing, your fasteners might not maintain at initial.

Pros
  • Holds screws and nails well
  • Lightweight
  • Strong vertical bearing abilities
Cons
  • Hard to screw and nail together
  • Not as strong as plywood
  • Small gaps in the core can be annoying

5. Oriented Strand Board (OSB)

7 Different Types of Engineered Wood (with Pictures)
OSB-Platte (Image Credit: C.-Sander Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0)

OSB is produced by compressing wooden flakes and chips collectively with adhesives at higher temperatures in broad devices. The resulting wooden is outstanding at holding heavy loads, which is why it is the wood of option for roof decking, flooring, and other load-bearing employment.

OSB arrives in easy, sanded variations and rougher unsanded variants, and is offered in a climate-resistant kind at an increased price tag. OSB requirements to be marginally gapped if used stop-to-conclude simply because it will shrink and swell like plywood and numerous kinds of reliable wooden.

Pros
  • Great for load-bearing applications
  • Weather-resistant
  • Takes longer to get wet than other wood
Cons
  • Cut edges are not water-resistant
  • Dries slowly when wet
  • Swells when wet

6. Medium-Density Fiberboard (MDF)

MDF is a composite wooden shaped of hardwood and softwood scraps, which can make it flexible. This type of engineered wood is typically denser than plywood or OSB, but it has no organic climate resistance and swells when moist.

Due to the fact it’s so fine in composition, MDF does not hold nails or screws extremely well, and they break loose easily. MDF is stronger than particle board and less expensive than plywood, generating it a wonderfully expense-powerful substance for durability.

Pros
  • High strength
  • Smoother than plywood
  • Cheap
Cons
  • Absorbs water and swells
  • Easily damaged
  • Hard to join with nails and screws

7. Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT)

7 Different Types of Engineered Wood (with Pictures)
Cross Laminated Timber (Image Credit: Райн Александр Дмитриевич, Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0)

This is an intriguing type of engineered wood which is made from sheets of timber compressed jointly perpendicularly. This is simply the strongest wood on the total record, with a strength equivalent to concrete as considerably as its fat to sq. foot ratio.

The pros of CLT are that it’s very thick, which can make it a fantastic framing option when soundproofing and insulation are a precedence. The stiffness of CLT makes it unyielding when utilised as a structural materials.

The biggest problems with CLT are that it’s extremely expensive—more expensive than metal or concrete, in reality. Incorporating to that, CLT is a pain to operate wires and pipes by way of simply because it has no natural gaps.

Pros
  • As strong as concrete
  • Excellent insulation
  • Does not bend or flex
Cons
  • Difficult to run wires and pipes through
  • More expensive than concrete
  • Rarer because it’s not mass-produced

Final Thoughts

Engineered wood carries on to expand in reputation as a more affordable alternative to real wooden, and it assists support a type of recycling also. Most engineered wooden is significantly less tough than true wooden, but it is generally more weather-resistant. Engineered wood is also typically quite simple to perform with, while true wood is pricey and often tough to craft.


Featured Picture Credit score: Chitaika, Shutterstock

Contents