In an attempt to free up more of the spare bedroom for quilting supplies (“the stash”), we built some storage space into our attic. As you can see from the pictures below, our attic consisted mostly of blown fiberglass insulation (about 8-10″ deep, which is almost adequate).

Blown Fiberglass insulation plus random construciton debris

For ease of materials procurement, we decided to install a standard sized (4ft by 8ft sheet of plywood) storage space. We had Home Depot cut the plywood into 2×4′ sheets to get it up into the attic through the access panel. Because the attic is framed with 2×4’s [which are really only 3.5 inches wide] we used 2×6’s [which are really only 5.5 inches wide] on top of the 2×4’s to provide enough clearance for R-30 fiberglass batting insulation. Wood glue and a few mend plates were used to affix the 2×6’s, while decking screws were used at a 45 degree angle to hold them in place while the glue dried.

We used cheap and thin hardboard as sidewalls to keep the blown fiberglass insulation outside the storage area. In this photo, the plywood is installed with decking screws, and the hardboard is sitting on top of it.

The R-30 insulation combined with the plywood is probably providing about the same insulation value as the blown in fiberglass that it is replacing. (Plus, by throwing the fiberglass insulation to other areas of the attic, we increased the overall attic insulation.) The pictures below show the finished attic storage space and piles of redistributed blown fiberglass insulation.