Sheet Materials are structural and non-structural panels engineered from both solid timber and recycled timber using various types of adhesives. Newlands Timber Centre is dedicated to providing a range of high-quality sheet materials. These include:
Explore our full range of stock in store, with cutting services and free local delivery, we are confident we can help with all your sheet material needs.
Plywood gets treated as one product when it is really several. Softwood plywood is the general purpose choice for site hoardings, subfloors and anything that gets covered up afterwards. Hardwood plywood costs more but takes a better finish and holds screws more securely, which matters for furniture carcasses and anything that stays visible. Exterior grade plywood, built with WBP glue lines, is what most outdoor projects actually need. A shed base, external cladding, garden steps, anywhere the board will get wet occasionally but is not permanently submerged. Marine plywood is a different product entirely, built for constant water contact and resistance to rot in a boat hull. Paying for marine ply on a project that only needs exterior grade is money spent on a spec nobody asked for.
OSB causes its own confusion at the counter, mostly because people ask for OSB without knowing there is more than one grade. Standard OSB2 is fine for dry, internal, non-structural work. OSB3 is the structural, moisture resistant grade, and it is the one that belongs under roof tiles as sarking board or beneath flooring where any damp is likely, even briefly during a build. Fit OSB2 on a shed floor or a roof deck and the first wet winter will start to show it. Boards swelling at the joints, losing their structural strength exactly where you needed it most.
Standard MDF is a good, stable board for internal joinery and anything staying in a dry room. It has no business near a bathroom or a kitchen sink run. Moisture resistant MDF is usually tinted green, an easy way to spot it at a glance, and it is built to cope with the humidity and occasional splashing those rooms produce. The two boards look similar enough that people grab the wrong one without realising. Within a season, the standard board starts to swell. The edge goes soft. That is the tell.
Flooring grade chipboard has the same trap built into it. P4 chipboard flooring is rated for dry, domestic conditions only. P5 is the moisture resistant version, and it is what belongs in a kitchen, a bathroom, or anywhere a washing machine or a leak could put water on the floor before anyone notices. Fit P4 in a wet room and the tongue and groove joints are usually the first thing to fail, swelling and lifting along every seam.
A full sheet is not always what a job needs, and getting an 8 by 4 board home in a hatchback is its own problem. Sheets can be cut down at the yard before you leave, so you are only carrying and handling what you actually need for the job. It also means less waste and no fighting a full sheet through a doorway that was never built for one.
The yard supplies both trade customers and homeowners from the same stock, and the advice does not change depending on who is asking. Builders and joiners working through regular volume can speak to the team about account arrangements, and free local delivery is available if getting a stack of sheet material to site is the awkward part of the job. See the full range of timber for every project for everything else the yard stocks alongside sheet materials.
If you are not sure which board actually suits what you are building, bring the details down to the yard on Hants Lane or get in touch before you order. Getting the right sheet the first time is a lot less hassle than replacing one that has already let a job down.
Marine plywood is built to BS 1088 for constant water contact, the standard used in boat building, and it costs considerably more than most projects actually need. Exterior grade plywood uses the same WBP glue but is built for occasional wetting rather than permanent submersion. That is the right choice for the vast majority of outdoor timber jobs. Sheds, cladding, garden structures, all of it.
OSB2 is not rated for structural or damp prone use, so it is not the right board for a shed roof or floor where it will be exposed to moisture. OSB3 is the structural, moisture resistant grade and is what should be used anywhere the board might get damp, even occasionally, including roof sarking and floor decking.
P5 is moisture resistant flooring grade chipboard, built to cope with occasional damp such as a leak or condensation. It is the grade that belongs in kitchens and bathrooms. P4 chipboard flooring is only rated for dry, domestic conditions. Get it wet and the joints swell first, every time. P5 costs more, but anywhere water is a realistic possibility, it earns that extra cost back.
Standard MDF will absorb moisture from bathroom humidity over time and begin to swell and lose its edge, even without direct water contact. Moisture resistant MDF, usually identifiable by its green tint, is built to handle that environment and is the board to ask for on any bathroom or kitchen project.
Yes, sheets can be cut down at the yard before you take them away, so you only need to transport and handle the sizes your project actually calls for. It also saves you wrestling a full 8 by 4 sheet into a car boot, or through a doorway it was never going to fit through anyway.
The right thickness depends on joist spacing and how much load the floor actually needs to take. Get it wrong and you feel it later, bounce or flex underfoot every time you walk across the room. Bring the joist centres and the intended use of the room down to the yard. Staff can talk you through a thickness that will actually perform, rather than you guessing and hoping it holds.
All enquiries please call 01695 576776 or make an Online Enquiry
