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Buying guide

Plywood, pavers and kerbs

Four unrelated ranges that share one thing: they are all bought by the quantity a drawing implies rather than by the piece. This is how to turn an area or a length on a plan into an order.

Buying guide

Plywood, pavers and kerbs

Four unrelated ranges that share one thing: they are all bought by the quantity a drawing implies rather than by the piece. This is how to turn an area or a length on a plan into an order.

Which plywood, and how many sheets

Plywood is graded by what its glue and its face can survive, not by how it looks. The four types here are genuinely different products and substituting down is how a pour goes wrong or a fit-out warps.

SheetAreaSheets per 100 m²Common thicknesses
1220 × 2440 mm2.98 m²343, 4, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 25 mm

One standard sheet covers 2.98 m². Divide your area by that and round up — allow extra for cuts and waste on anything but a simple rectangle. Film-faced is also stocked in 21 mm; flexible runs 3, 5, 8 and 12 mm.

  • Commercial — general joinery, boxing, partitions and site carpentry. The everyday board.
  • Film-faced (shuttering) — a phenolic film on both faces so the board releases from concrete and can be struck and reused. For formwork.
  • Marine — bonded to survive damp and repeated wetting, for boats, wet areas and anywhere exposure is real.
  • Flexible (bendy) — cut so it will curve, for curved joinery and column casings.

The arithmetic most enquiries need

4,000 m² of boarding is 4,000 ÷ 2.98 = 1,343 sheets before waste. Working the other way, 3,000 sheets covers about 8,930 m². Send us the area and we will do it with you rather than quoting a per-sheet price against a number you had to guess.

Pavers and kerbs, by the square metre and the running metre

Interlock is bought by area and kerb by length, and the only real decision on either is the loading it has to take.

  • 60 mm interlock — footpaths, landscaping, light vehicle areas and driveways.
  • 80 mm interlock — heavy duty, where lorries and plant will run over it. The extra 20 mm is what stops it cracking under axle load.
  • Coloured is available in both thicknesses; sand for the bedding and joints is supplied alongside.
  • Kerbs in 915 × 150 × 305 mm and 915 × 100 × 305 mm, plus heel kerbs at 600 mm for edging and channel work.

Do not put 60 mm where lorries turn

The commonest failure on a paved yard is 60 mm laid where vehicles manoeuvre. Pavers do not fail under the wheel — they fail where a turning axle scrubs them sideways. If anything heavier than a car will turn on it, specify 80 mm.

Questions

Straight answers.

How many plywood sheets do I need for a given area?

A standard 1220 × 2440 mm sheet covers 2.98 m². Divide the area by 2.98 and round up, then add for cuts. For 4,000 m² that is 1,343 sheets before waste.

What is the difference between commercial and film-faced plywood?

Film-faced has a phenolic film bonded to both faces so wet concrete releases cleanly and the board can be struck and reused several times. Commercial plywood has no such face — used as formwork it bonds to the pour and is effectively single-use.

Can I use commercial plywood outdoors?

Not where it will get repeatedly wet. Commercial board is a general interior and site joinery product. For damp or wet exposure the marine grade is the one specified, because the difference is the glue line rather than the appearance.

60 mm or 80 mm interlock?

60 mm for footpaths, landscaping and car parking. 80 mm anywhere lorries or plant will run or turn. The failure mode is lateral scrubbing from turning wheels rather than straight-line load, so judge it on the heaviest vehicle that will manoeuvre on the surface.

Now the prices

Civil Works & Site Fixings

Pavers and kerbstones for the groundworks, and the four plywood grades — marine, film-faced shuttering, commercial and flexible — for the formwork and the fit-out.

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Mon–Sat, 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM · +971 54 303 3119 (Operations Director) · +971 54 241 0599 (Managing Director)