OSB Eaves

THE TWO-YEAR OSB STANDARD — OSB eaves · Phoenix, Arizona

Some Phoenix homes have eaves made of OSB — oriented strand board, a panel pressed from wood strands and resin. If your home has OSB, this page tells you exactly how we handle it: what we will do, what we will not, and why. We would rather you know all of it before you sign than be surprised later.

What We Will Do

We will prepare and paint your OSB eaves to the same standard as the rest of your home — the same wash, the same prep, the same quality coating. We do not cut corners on OSB, and we do not charge you less attention for it. When we paint it, we paint it right.

We warrant our workmanship on OSB for two years. That covers our work — the prep and the application. If the paint fails because of something we did, within two years, we fix it. That is a real, written commitment, the same as every other surface on your home.

What We Will Not Do

We will not warrant OSB for the same term as stucco, wood, or metal — and we will not pretend the limit isn't there. Here is the honest reason, in plain language:

OSB is not a coating-friendly material. The strands swell and shrink with every change in humidity. The cut edges wick moisture. Under Phoenix heat — especially on south- and west-facing eaves — the panel expands and contracts faster than any paint film can follow. When OSB fails, it does so from the inside out: the strands telegraph through, the edges fuzz, the panel separates. The paint doesn't let go — the board does, and it takes the coating with it.

This is true of any paint and any painter. No coating on the market changes what OSB does under the Arizona sun, and any company that warrants OSB the same as solid wood is either not looking closely or not telling you the whole story. We would rather tell you the truth: on OSB, two years is the honest limit of what workmanship can stand behind. Beyond that, we would be warranting the board itself — and that is not something we, or anyone, can promise.

How to Tell If You Have OSB

You don't need to know this — we identify it for you at your appointment and note it on your proposal, so it's never a surprise. But if you want to look for yourself, OSB is easy to spot once you know what you're looking for:

• Look at a cut edge or an exposed corner of the eave. OSB shows large, irregular wood flakes — roughly one to three inches — pressed and glued together.
• It is most common on tract homes built from about 2000 on, usually on eaves and rake boards.
• Solid wood shows a continuous grain; plywood shows thin smooth layers. OSB shows the flakes. When in doubt, we'll show you on your home.

Why we put this in writing: Most companies stay quiet about OSB and let you find out when something fails. We do the opposite. We tell you up front exactly what we'll stand behind and exactly what we won't, so you can decide with the full picture.

Even when the honest answer is a limit.

We stand behind our work and the products we use.