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I am in the very beginning stages of planning a new home. My queston today ( I am sure there will be many more) is this. What thickness of plywood is generally used on the exterior walls of a new construction and what size nail is normally used to affix the plywood. I am in KY just for reference.

I'm not sure what the plywood you are wanting to know more about is to be used for. The material attached to the outside of the wall studs is called sheathing. Actually you have a number of alternative sheating products. One is OSB which is engineered for the same structural purpose. Another is called insulating sheathing which is a soft product made of wood fibers pressed together into a sheet product.

Plywood sheathing is coded CDX and is intended to be covered by siding. 1/2" thickness is the usual choice although 3/8" thick is used occasionally. Other sheathing products are also used including foamboard sheathing.

When nailing plywood to framing the nail should hold about the same as the strength of the plywood. If the nail pulls through the plywood it is stronger than needed and if it pulls out it is less strong than needed. 6d common nails are a bit light and 8d common nails are a bit heavy. You could also use a 1-1/2 nail with a power nailer. The nailing pattern wo;; be 8" on center inside the parimeter of the plywood panel and 6" on center on the outside edges. Different building code jurisdictions may have specific local requirements for this application.

Use 1/2", commonly refurded to as 17/32.
3/8 has so much bounce that it's hard to attach the siding to.
I would never use anything but OSB or plywood. Any home I've seen or worked on that tryed to cheap out and only use plywood only in the corners had siding problums, made a lot more strange noises when the wind blows due to the whole house moving, and a lot more sheetrock cracks.
Just look at any mobil home with vinyl siding to see what I'm talking about. Most used Celotex on the outside for sheathing. After a few years the bottom row of siding starts to bow out like the building is sagging and the siding looks like it full of waves and starts to unlock.

17/32 osb yep thats what i did

Thanks for the advice. That's what I was looking for!

Have you looked into Zip Sheathing? Check this out.

http://www.homeconstructionimprovement.com/2008/10/zip-system-sheating.html

and

http://www.huberwood.com/main.aspx?pagename=zipsystemwalloverview


I just sheathed a porch roof with it and it's really neat. No roofing paper needed and you don't have to wrap a house to keep it dry and air tight. The joints are taped. It's price is within a dollar of plywood here. Even if a roof leaks, the stuff won't be ruined by moisture.