When it comes to furniture, you’ll find that an 18 to 24mm plywood sheet thickness is perfect for building tables, while a set of draws will use a combination of 6mm plywood and 12mm plywood.
What is a good thickness for plywood?
The most common thickness of plywood is 1/2-inch, but plywood thickness can range from 1/8-inch to 3/4 inches.
The below chart indicates the strengths of different softwood plywood sizes:9
| Size: 1/8 inch | Size: 1/4 inch | Size: 3/8 inch | Size: 1/2 inch | Size: 5/8 inch | Size: 3/4 inch | Size: 7/8 inch | Size: 1 inch |
| 8psf | 16psf | 22psf | 35psf | 56psf | 80psf | 110psf | 164psf |
Plywood Load Capacity Calculator
Calculating the answer to the question, of how much weight can plywood hold, is made easy with a plywood load capacity calculator.
A simple version of the plywood load capacity calculator requires the following inputs:20
- Length
- Width
- Thickness
The calculator will then use the following formula to determine the load capacity of a sheet of plywood:
LC = L x W x MP
LC refers to the load capacity in pounds, L refers to the length, W refers to the width, and MP refers to the maximum pressure related to the thickness.
Calculating the load capacity of plywood relies on multiplying the length and width and then multiplying that by the MP of the sheet of plywood. The maximum pressure can be estimated using the following table:
What is the best ply thickness?
| Thickness of Plywood | Maximum Pressure (PSF) |
| .125 inch | MP (PSF) – 8 |
| .250 inch | MP (PSF) – 16 |
| .375 inch | MP (PSF) – 22 |
| .500 inch | MP (PSF) – 35 |
| .750 inch | MP (PSF) – 79 |
| 1 inch | MP (PSF) – 160 |
Another type of plywood load capacity calculator requires the following inputs
- Type of plywood
- Length
- Width
- Thickness
- The number of sheets.
The calculator then delivers results in the form of weight in pounds and density in pounds per square foot for each inch of thickness.
