Exterior Wall Sheathing Thickness

Exterior wall sheathing strengthens the wall system provides a nailing base for the siding and gives a layer of protection against outside elements.

Exterior wall sheathing thickness.

Foam board thicknesses range from 3 8 inch to 4 1 4 inches. Exterior wall sheathing is either structural or non structural. Minimum plywood thickness the international residential code specifies 3 8 inch plywood for sheathing walls with a standard stud spacing of 16 inches if the siding is nailed to the studs through. The death of the 8 sheet one of the biggest items when sheathing a wall vertically is that the sheathing has to be continuous 602 10 4 5 which meant that an 8 sheet wouldn t cut it in many places so longer ones were required.

According to the california uniform building code the minimum recommended thickness for structural panels used in wall sheathing is 5 16 inch for studs 16 inches on center and 3 8 inch for studs. Standard panels are 2 by 8 4 by 8 and 4 by 9 feet although some can be purchased in fan folded panels that run up to 50 feet long. But in practice most walls with too thin foam won t fail. 5 8 exterior gypsum sheathing has a type x core for use in fire rated assemblies.

For covering existing siding 1 2 inch and 3 4 inch thicknesses are commonly used. Gypsum wallboard manufactured by american gypsum contains no asbestos. Structural exterior wall sheathing ties framing studs together making the walls resistant to twisting and bending.