SafetyCore is an Oriented Strand Board (OSB) engineered, mat-formed panel product made of strands, flakes, or wafers sliced from small-diameter, round wood logs and bonded with an exterior-type resin binder under heat and pressure. What does that mean exactly? SafetyCore is engineered to be a superior flooring material. Each flooring panel consists of layered mats—exterior or surface layers are composed of strands aligned in the long panel direction while inner-layers consist of cross- or randomly-aligned strands. These large mats are then subjected to intense heat and pressure to become a “master” panel and are cut to size. Strand dimensions are predetermined and have a uniform thickness and density. The majority of Structural Board Association (SBA) member mills use a combination of strands up to 6″ (150mm) long and 1″ (25mm) wide.
Learn more about Oriented Strand Board and see how it’s made.
Benefits of SafetyCore and OSB as a building material of choice:
- The strength of SafetyCore comes mainly from the uninterrupted wood fiber, interweaving of the long strands or wafers, and the degree of orientation of strands in the surface layers. Waterproof and boil-proof resin binders are combined with the strands to provide internal strength, rigidity, and moisture resistance.
- Pound for pound, wood is stronger than steel because of a more favorable strength-to-weight ratio.
- Analysis of earthquake damage in California and Japan revealed that panel-sheathed, wood-frame structures fared better during earthquakes than masonry and concrete buildings.
- SafetyCore is constructed from a completely renewable resource—small-diameter, fast-growing trees.
- SafetyCore has a Janka Hardness Scale rating of 950 (similar to maple or cherry), while most other plywood core products score in the 500-700 range.