Plywood Size & Thickness Guide

Softwood Plywood

Made from pine, fir, or spruce veneers. The most common type for construction sheathing, subflooring, and general-purpose applications. Graded under PS 1 standards.

Hardwood Plywood

Face veneers of oak, maple, birch, walnut, or cherry over a softwood or hardwood core. Used for cabinetry, furniture, and architectural millwork.

Marine Plywood

Manufactured with waterproof adhesive and void-free cores. Designed for boat building and applications with sustained moisture exposure.

Baltic Birch

All-birch construction with more plies than standard plywood of the same thickness. Excellent for CNC cutting, drawer boxes, and visible-edge projects.

MDO / HDO

Medium/High Density Overlay plywood with a resin-impregnated fiber surface. Extremely smooth and weather-resistant. Used for signs, concrete forms, and exterior trim.

Structural Plywood

Engineered for load-bearing applications like shear walls and diaphragms. APA-rated with specific span ratings for floor and roof applications.

Veneer Core

Cross-banded plies of softwood (typically poplar or fir). Lightweight, screw-holding, and the strongest option. The most common core for general cabinet work.

MDF Core

Medium-density fiberboard center. Heavier than veneer core but offers a perfectly flat, consistent surface. Excellent for laminating and machining clean edges.

Particleboard Core

Lowest cost option. Heavy, with poor screw-holding power but a flat, stable surface. Common in production cabinets and furniture where cost is the primary driver.

Combination Core

Veneer core with MDF face plies. Combines the strength and screw-holding of veneer with the surface flatness of MDF. Premium choice for high-end cabinetry.

Lumber Core

Edge-glued lumber strips between two face veneers. Traditional construction with excellent screw-holding. Now relatively rare and expensive.

Baltic Birch Core

All-birch veneer plies in thin layers (more plies per thickness than standard). Premium choice for visible edges, drawer boxes, and CNC cutting.

Oriented Strand Board (OSB)

Made from compressed wood strands oriented in cross layers. Less expensive than plywood, comparable structural performance for sheathing applications, but heavier and more susceptible to edge swelling when exposed to moisture. Widely used for residential wall and roof sheathing.

Particleboard

Wood particles bonded with resin. Smooth, flat, and inexpensive but heavy and weak. Cannot be used in structural applications. Common as cabinet substrate, shelving for light loads, and underlayment.

Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF)

Wood fibers compressed with resin into a dense, uniform panel. Excellent machining, paints beautifully, no grain or voids. Heavy, weak in screws driven into edges, and can release formaldehyde unless CARB compliant.

Hardboard / Tempered

Highly compressed wood fibers. Tempered hardboard is impregnated with oil for water resistance. Used for drawer bottoms, cabinet backs, and pegboard. Thin, strong, and takes paint well.

LSL and PSL

Laminated Strand Lumber and Parallel Strand Lumber are engineered structural products made from oriented wood elements. Used as headers, beams, and columns where high strength and predictable performance are needed.

CLT and Glulam

Cross-Laminated Timber and Glue-Laminated beams are mass timber products used in modern sustainable building. CLT panels are increasingly used as wall and floor elements in mid-rise wood construction.