13x11 Metal shed floor board OSB or Plywood?

[spader]

Just set up a metal shed 13x11 on the slab in the corner of the garden.
It came with the floor kit, and it is all installed. What would be better for the floor board on the floor kit in the shed?
I can think of OSB or plywood. Which would be better for longer lasting floor board?
Are there better option than those two?

 

[Why Not Indeed]

You need to keep moisture to a minimum in a metal shed because it will form condensation on the inside and "rain" down on the contents. So at a bare minimum you want a DPM between the sheet of timber and the slab. The timber wouldn't be doing much "work" here so I doubt there would be much difference between ply and OSB. Ply would be easier to keep clean.

 

[spader]

The metal shed will be kept open doors as often as possible for ventilation, and some sort of wood stove or gas stove will be running in the shed to dry out the space. Also planning to cover the roof with some sort of tarp to trying insulate from the elements.

Height of the metal floor kit which looks like galvanised metal frame is about 1 inch, so it will be the gap between the slabs and the floor board.
As your suggestion I would go for 18mm hard wood ply for easy sweeping and brushing the floor.

 

[foxhole]

Any gas appliance will increase humidity as moisture is produced when burning gas.

 

[big-all]

as it has its own floor already 12mm ext ply will be more than enough as its reinforcement rather than replace
and iff you are often going to get the floor wet with open doors [by accident ]make sure you have a full sheet covering the door area with no joints so when it blows it one sheet to replace not two
there is a reasonable chance any damage may only go back perhaps 200-400mm so plan the odd strip at the door end as 13ft may leave 1ft/304mm to fill ideal for replacement if at the door

 

[spader]

Any gas appliance will increase humidity as moisture is produced when burning gas.

It should be ok gas stove is on only when the doors are open for ventilation, and when working in the shed with the doors widely open.

 

[spader]

as it has its own floor already 12mm ext ply will be more than enough as its reinforcement rather than replace
and iff you are often going to get the floor wet with open doors [by accident ]make sure you have a full sheet covering the door area with no joints so when it blows it one sheet to replace not two
there is a reasonable chance any damage may only go back perhaps 200-400mm so plan the odd strip at the door end as 13ft may leave 1ft/304mm to fill ideal for replacement if at the door

Good points. Thanks for your info and advice. Some says to go for WBP or external purpose ply for durability. We are going to look for WBP grade ply at least.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

It should be ok gas stove is on only when the doors are open for ventilation.

Seems a bit pointless, trying to heat a space, with the doors open?

A wood burning stove would be OK, as that has a flue, but can I suggest a diesel heater? The Chinese diesel heaters are cheap, and cheap to run if you can get hold of cheap fuel for them. They burn diesel, and or kero/heating oil. Exhaust and combustion air can be directly through the side wall, so you only get the benefit of the hot air inside, plus they include thermostat control, set your desired and forget.

 

[spader]

Seems a bit pointless, trying to heat a space, with the doors open?

A wood burning stove would be OK, as that has a flue, but can I suggest a diesel heater? The Chinese diesel heaters are cheap, and cheap to run if you can get hold of cheap fuel for them. They burn diesel, and or kero/heating oil. Exhaust and combustion air can be directly through the side wall, so you only get the benefit of the hot air inside, plus they include thermostat control, set your desired and forget.

I don't work in the shed often, but some days when in the shed, it would be handy to put the camping gas stove on while I am in there. Camping gas stove has advantage in that it is so convenient to put it on, and no smells or smokes, instantly heats up (I have a metal can which works as heat elements to put on the stove), and easy to put it off instantly.

Diesel heaters are more for the folks who work in the garage or shed day in and day out, and all day long? Diesel is expensive, smelly and pain to store, buy and refill, and can be health hazard. Not an ideal solution.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Diesel heaters are more for the folks who works in the garage or shed day in and out, and all day long?

Nope, I bought one a couple of weeks ago, as an alternative to my wood burning stove, to heat mainly the workshop end of my garage/workshop. You just touch the on button, and a minute later is producing up to 8Kw of blown air heat. It is far cheaper to run than a Camping Gaz heater, even running on white diesel. Even cheaper on kero, which is less than 1/2 the price. Better still, you would be able to safely close the door, because they are room sealed..

 

[big-all]

my advice keep the doors shut when the heating is on to warm up the air as much as possible as warmer air holds more moisture and because the contents will be warming up they will shed more water the warmer they get
then vent when you turn the heating off to remove the warm moist air
to be honest at this time off year the moisture levels in the contents off the shed will be quite low so best to save as much heat as possible to reduce the cold damp evenings making the shed damp