Good morning. Is it OK to use 1/2″ OSB for the sheathing along w/ a Tyvek wrap, or is plywood better? what thickness plywood? thanks! FYI this is for a large home, not sure that matters, but roughly 7,000 ft2.
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There is more than one way to skin a cat. (not sure that helps, but it is what it is.)
lots of info on sheathing products which include vapor barriers and insulation.
https://www.finehomebuilding.com/?s=sheathing
part of the puzzle is if this will be your house, (and you will pay the utility costs for the next 20 years) and if you are doing this yourself or using a crew or contractor.
Matt Risinger, who used to be a contributor to Fine Homebuilding, has done a lot of fine videos on framing, sheathing, vapour barriers, flashing, water screens, etc. A tremendous wealth of information. Exclusively, high end contractor, I think. You can catch his stuff on YouTube. A general rule to balance performance with cost, he recommended plywood on the bottom 2 feet and OSB above--if using that system. I recall that he's an advocate of Zip sheathing in general. --but personally where I live I've seen some pretty crummy Zip installs. Here in Canada, it's the whole "new system and installation training thing" that isn't done. An architect specifies something that the trades aren't familiar with and the whole system becomes compromised. Good luck.
OSB is commonly used here in California for at least the last 30 years. It is less costly than plywood (CDX) and performs not as well for lateral wall bracing. Plywood has a better nail pullout resistance than OSB.
Sheathing is typically specified as part of engineering calculations by a structural engineer, when building a multi story home or a home with large openings and/or unusual size, configuration.
You can get more specific information about sheathing from APA. See link below.
If specific plywood type has been called out in the engineering calc's or framing plans, verify proposed change with the architect/engineer first.
https://www.apawood.org/fully-sheathed-walls
My preference is OSB, with Tyvek, on walls. 2x4's are nice but 2x6's are better. Plywood on roofs. 1/2 is nice, 5/8 is great but can be heavy to install if you don't have a mechanical way to get it there.