OSB vs plywood shelving

[CEPenworks]

I am making some shelving for the basement to hold various sport and camping gear. I have cleats on the wall running the length of the shelves. On the front I have 2x4 supports with cleats to hold the front of the shelf. These are spaced 4' OC. Is the OSB anymore likely to sag than plywood? I am planning on using 3/4".

[joe1086]

Depth?

plus 17

[Gary G™]

More than likely, yes!
The question is: is it too much.
Moreover, depending upon the weight, even plywood might sag.

You can add a beam along the front edge of the shelves and it’ll reduce the sag.
The Sagulator can tell you how much based on size and material.

https://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator helps you determine what you need to do based on material, size and weight.

[carwashguy]

I recently made a couple of 12' long x 24" deep shelves using OSB. I wanted plywood but I decided to save a little bit of money and go with OSB while standing in the store. I used a 2x2" cleat on the wall and a 2x3" for the front horizontal support with 1 2x4" in the center. The shelves are rock solid! Will the OSB sag over time? Maybe..I've seen it with Plywood, too. I have a bunch of OSB shelves at work that are fine. IMO, modern OSB is very likely better than the OSB that so many people had problems with in the 80's and 90's.

[CEPenworks]

These are going to be about 32" deep which i why I have front and back supports. I was figuring if I started to get sag I could run something along the front edge. I was just checking if OSB would be a poorer choice or not. Most of the stuff is going to be more bulky than heavy. Every time I get a construction grade plywood it looks flat laying flat on the pile but by the time it is home for about a day or two it is anything but flat.

[Stwood_]

As well as a front and rear support, put in a center support full length and you should be fine.

[jteneyck]

As well as a front and rear support, put in a center support full length and you should be fine.

Or use 1/4" plywood and make 1-1/2" thick torsion boxes.  They'll be no thicker than your OSB + stiffeners, and be incredibly sag resistant.  If' you've got some old hollow core doors just cut them to the sizes you need and slide them onto cleats on the sides and back cut to fit between the skins.  

John

[EdL]

John brings up an often forgetten shelf material....the lowly hollow core door. I've made many shelves from them. For narrow ones use bi-fold doors.
They'll hold more than one thinks with no sag.

Ed

   

[Gary G™]

Nice brackets Ed.
Where they from?

[fredhargis]

John brings up an often forgetten shelf material....the lowly hollow core door. I've made many shelves from them. For narrow ones use bi-fold doors.
They'll hold more than one thinks with no sag.

Ed

Getting them from a Restore can save you a bunch of money as well.