I had a neighbor give me some OSB. My first thought was: "Deer Blinds!" However, I've never used the stuff outdoors. I thought I'd ask y'all what your experience is. I figure that if I primed and painted it real well, it would hold up for a few years, but if I use wrap and roll roofing it will last for ever.

I've had some on a stand we call "the fort" for about 19 years. It's finally worn beyond repair after the 2013 deer season. It was barely cobbled together for last year. If I sit there this year it will be on the ground with the stand torn down due to safety.

It was built 19 years ago when you could drive a truck or atv within 200 yards of it. Now you can't get within a 1/4 mile of it with a 4x4 atv. So now it's going to be a ground blind.

19 years? How did you preserve the OSB?

Paint

Today's OSB seems better than the stuff from the late 80's and early 90's. I had a ground blind go completely underwater a couple seasons back and it came out a few weeks later in pretty good shape. The OSB hadn't warped much at all. It had been painted on the outside.

We used OSB on a box blind for my kids that lasted four seasons before we left the lease. We left it behind, but there wasn't anything wrong with it.

We primed it and gave it two coats of paint.

OSB will last a long time outside if you keep it painted. The problem is that it's full of gaps between the wood chips that water gets in. It takes a LOT of paint to completely protect it. A good dose of waterproofing applied with a paint sprayer will help a lot.

Go to your local paint stores and check out their "Mis Tint" paints. You can usually pick some up at a really good price. You can get a lot of years out of painted osb..

Great way to get cheap paint, who cares about colors when it's $5-$10 gal.

Lowes usually has a couple gallons on hand

Osb will last for years as other have said. I go ahead and silicone the outside corners where 2 sheets meet.

The old Masonite siding was the ticket, but heard it killed seagulls in California or some nonsense so it was done away with.

I have a few about ten years old that are in need of more paint, but otherwise OK. 1/4 inch OSB nailed to 2x4s with a nail gun and 2-1/2 ring shanks will have issues with pulling nail heads through, but that is easy to fix with lath strips. Start with the lath strips and maintain the paint and it should last a good twenty years.

. . . or the "OOOPS!" bin at Lowes. Yes, I'm quite familiar with the concept.

Here is a project I did with OOOPS! paint a few years ago:

Midway Phoenix

If you buy Exterior Grade OSB, it's waterproofed. Exposure 1 Grade is only edge waterproofed to prevent edge swelling during construction until the panels are covered up.

There are far better caulks than silicone. The best I've found on wood is polyurethane. If you can find Vulcem 116 brand polyurethane, it's one of the best. I used to be a roofer and we used Vulcem for everything with great success. It's also paintable. It sells for around $5/tube.

I have some ramps I made for my storage building out of some OSB I had laying around.. coated them with the cheapest rubberized under coating I could find about 5 years ago. They look like the day I made them.

I have an outhouse "up nort" that was made in 1990. It was painted once with some old interior house paint. Its still an outhouse but getting rough.Has a roof on though.