Ran into some interesting material...

[Ob1-SKO]

It is a composite board made of resin soaked corrugated cardboard. It come with many different surface veneers, allows for simple joinery, can be kerf cut to make rounded corners. Wickedly strong, light weight, must have some insulation value due to the trapped air cells.

Dont know what kind of price they get for the stuff, waiting on a price list to come in. You can get free samples to check out, and I'm sure you'll be as impressed as I am! They also send tech info on joinery and other info that is sure to make you think WOW!

I can easily see taking down the ancient conversion materials that were put in in the '70s and replacing it with this stuff, and probably gain a slight amount of space since my walls will be much thinner.

http://www.tricelcorp.com/

 

[The_Stuff]

i was gonna order samples till i saw in fine print that i have to prepay shipping due to being in canada lol

 

[Ob1-SKO]

hmmm, $92 per 4X8X3/4 sheet for interior grade, faced both sides with luaun. Stronger than plywood yet 40% lighter.

 

[lornaschinske]

Or you can do it the hard (and cheaper) way by simply buying a sheet of plywood and cut a series of kerfs on the backside with a table saw or portable circular saw in the areas that you want to bend. We have done that many times and with judicious application of hot water to the kerfed area (from the front) we have carefully bent the plywood.

We've been in construction (mostly cabinets) for decades and would use a alternative method of making a curve than buy the flexible plywood (and have when we built a receptionist's desk at a radio station back in the early 90's). It's terribly expensive.

 

[Ob1-SKO]

I guess it all depends on how much you value your time, as well as the value of all your supplies to make a regular stick built wall.

With this stuff, I could put up a structural wall, say a simple divider, finished and ready for paint or stain, in less than an hour. The wall would be thinner, stronger and lighter than anything I could build from scratch. Glue on a store bought waterproof panel, one wall of a shower/bathroom.

Want a bunk or shelf? Dado cut to the panel thickness, lay in epoxy and insert the bunk panel, no need for hardware. Attach edge facing...done.

They talk about doing the whole interior of high end boats in this stuff, and save 2 tons from the gross weight of the boat. I am pretty sure I could shave 500 pounds in my lil bread truck by stripping out the old lath, 70's era compacted fiber paneling and the beadboard that is laid over the top. Oughta pay for itself in fuel savings.

Right now my bathroom walls are 2 5/8 in thick, and it is a claustrophobic space. With no larger outer footprint I could gain 4 inches in width and depth inside the bathroom...now if I could gain about 3 inches of headroom!

 

[lornaschinske]

You could drop your interior partition walls down to 3/4" thick by making the walls like you would a flat panel cabinet door/interior door (1X? wood routed to accept a 1/4" thick sheet of luan plywood). OR you can use the same construction techniques they use to make a hollow core door and build a partition wall that is roughly 1-3/8" thick or actually use a hollow core luan/masonite door (cost is roughly $1 per inch in width). We have discovered that we can use the hollow core doors for walls because of the sizes.