The term plywood is actually a very general term, although what most of us think of as plywood is an engineered wood product made of laminated veneer with adjacent layers laid perpendicular to each other.
Plywood comes in many different types and can be classified in many different ways. For the purpose of dealing with structural versus non-structural plywood, we are talking about traditional plywood products, not particleboard, particleboard or hardboard. All types of plywood are either structural or non-structural, depending on their use.

What's the difference?

When we talk about the difference between structural and non-structural plywood, we are not talking about different types of wood, although there may be differences in the wood used in some cases. Instead, we are talking about differences in the type of adhesive used to hold the layers of wood together. This is a key difference, as some types of adhesives are more weather resistant than others.
On a more obvious basis, there are certain categories of plywood that are clearly structural plywood. These include exterior grade plywood, RTD plywood, BWP plywood and pressure treated plywood. All of these were developed to make plywood at least somewhat resistant to moisture and temperature. On the other hand, decorative plywood products, designed for cosmetically important applications such as hardwood plywood, are clearly not structural plywood.

Laser Cutting Birch Plywood

Applications

Most of the plywood used in housing construction is structural plywood. Simply put, wherever you can find building codes that specify plywood materials and material thicknesses, structural plywood is required, especially when these materials may be exposed to rain before the house dries. This includes flooring, wall panels and roof cladding.
You will also find structural plywood used in places that may not be specified in the building code, but are still part of the structure of the house, such as roof and floor supports. It is equally suitable for packing boxes, storage boxes, storage sheds, outdoor furniture and outdoor children's play equipment such as playhouses.

Marine plywood

People always misunderstand the difference between marine plywood and other structural plywood products. While marine plywood qualifies as structural plywood, not all structural plywood qualifies as marine plywood. To be considered marine plywood, it must meet a very specific set of criteria.
Marine plywood has three basic requirements that make it stand out from other structural plywood. The first is that no voids are allowed in the internal veneer layers. Voids can lead to delamination, especially when they are filled with moisture. Secondly, marine grade plywood must be manufactured with a waterproof glue. Finally, marine grade plywood requires a higher grade of face veneer than is typically encountered in exterior grade structural plywood.

Formply

Another special structural plywood product is formply. this plywood product takes the concept of moisture resistant plywood to another level, as it is used in areas that are always in contact with moisture.
Formply is a specialized plywood product that is boxed for use in making concrete forms. In order to be used in this application, the plywood not only needed to be highly resistant to moisture, but it also needed a waterproof outer cover that would allow it to be easily separated from the cured concrete. Before formply existed, this was accomplished by using a highly moisture resistant plywood, such as marine grade plywood, and coating it with oil, usually used motor oil.
It does not meet the three requirements for marine grade plywood, but in some respects it can be said to exceed them.

We at Lituo-plywood will always endeavour to supply our market with the best materials. We build our mission to become a responsible and reputable Chinese supplier of wood panels. Please contact us today to get the product list!