The Weight of the Matter (Part 1)

So to broach the subject while I am thinking about it many tiny homes on wheels are built using typical building materials used on regular houses, but there can be one problem with this... WEIGHT. In the state I live in someone has to get a special license to tow anything above 10,000 pounds, which if you are building a family tiny house and add all of the stuff you will be putting into it (like toys, cloths, food, etc.) the weight limit restricted on your average drivers license may be exceeded. Also if you plan on hauling it places on an occasion (something I am considering since I want to visit state and national parks regularly during the summers) then the less it weighs the less gas you will be spending on hauling it. So here is a list of things I have thought of to reduce the weight of the house.

• Thin wood panel for walls, such as a beadboard or wainscoting. I know we all think of the hideous wooden walls that looked like fake wood paneling, but some of these can look really nice and you can find boards that are completely flat and paintable.
• Recycled cardboard shelves for light weight books, DVD's, and CD's. If you are handy at crafting things then take cereal boxes or other cardboard materials and build a small box using masking tape, glue, and various papers (make it colorful if you want) to cover it. I'm sure if you look around on the internet there are crafting sites that can give you step by step instructions on how to make these kinds of things. Once you have several of these boxes made you want to put the bottom against the wall and put two screws in the bottom spaced evenly apart, then put another box next to that one and so on and so forth. Light weight and cheap shelves :-)
• Using air mattresses instead of regular mattresses. You can find some pretty durable air mattresses that can be used on a regular basis or finding a good memory foam to put on top of those thin camping air mattresses might be kind of comfortable. Either way these options are bound to be lighter and easier to put in or remove from a tiny house.
• Light weight steel framing. I have no idea how to work with this stuff although I have seen it in pictures of tiny houses on wheels and I would assume this is much lighter then regular lumber.
• On the note of eliminating lumber it could be possible to make the kitchen area out of plexiglass which can come in various colors other than clear.
• Another idea is to use fiberglass panels for the exterior and roof. Also I am not sure if it is possible and I will look into it some more eventually, that it might be possible to use some sort of fiberglass flooring. I am not sure if it would be more light weight than regular wood flooring, but it would not hurt to find out.

So just a few ideas right now, I will add another blog on this as I am able to do more research on light weight materials for building with. Please feel free to add more ideas in the comment section cause the more ideas the better for all who want to make their home light weight and portable.