Ply wood for finishing garden room (birch alternative)

[badger99]

Hi all,

i am building a 4x3.5m garden room. It will be used as a workshop but with the intention that the room might change use in the future.

I want to clad the interior walls will 12mm ply. With birch ply being expensive, I am looking for alternatives. I have seen a few other threads here about the Stretek ply with a poplar face, but that still seems expensive, particularly because, from the comments, it's not as good as birch ply. Has anyone used Sheet Materials Wholesale before? I have found birch there for £90 a sheet which seems to be the most reasonable on the market. Or does anyone have suggestions for alternatives?

Thanks,
Tom

 

[Bingy man]

Not sure I’d go to the expense of birch ply for a garden room//workshop imo. There is plenty of general purpose ply available from the likes of wickes / Selco and bnq etc . The problem with a lot of online sellers is you may not actually receive what you are being shown on their website. At least with the regular builders merchants etc you can see what you will receive especially if you pick it yourself.

 

[Jameshow]

Not sure I’d go to the expense of birch ply for a garden room//workshop imo. There is plenty of general purpose ply available from the likes of wickes / Selco and bnq etc . The problem with a lot of online sellers is you may not actually receive what you are being shown on their website. At least with the regular builders merchants etc you can see what you will receive especially if you pick it yourself.

You can go to selco.

I brought 3 sheets of ply from Wickes for my camper no voids, equal plys, quality plywood! Just the luck of the drawer!!

 

[TigersFan]

I have a similar project underway and have decided to use OSB3 sheets instead. Much cheaper than plywood.
I’m then going to line it with cork. There is a wide range of colours and options available, so shouldn’t end up looking like a giant notice board! Cork also has thermal and sound insulation properties.

 

[Jackie H]

On slightly different tack I bought some 18 mm ply {non-structural HW) recently from B&Q and also a local timber merchant. They were similarly priced and I felt the B&Q stuff was better quality. I have also found Wickes to be reasonably priced for ply.

 

[LarryS.]

Another option based on a friend who used osb3 and really didn’t like how it looks even painted, is to use osb, but then overboard with plasterboard or dry lining board. Then you end up with something wrong enough to screw anything to and a really nice look

Or, just skip the osb3 completely and work out other ways to screw stuff to the walls