RonWen said:
I'll defer to you contractors -- when I built my house I talked with many pros at that time that strongly advised that there needs to be an air gap between the insulation and the "cold" side (roof). They pointed to a problem many cathedral ceilings have with moisture condensation and ice build up. My house is a conventional hip roof built with trusses and I installed the 12" of insulation in the ceiling joists -- never any problem with ice build up, etc.
Kreg, Please LAY OFF the syslite demos -- I've now increased my order to two (2) from at first not thinking that I needed any!!! [big grin]
I can confirm that... my moms house was built like that with cathedral ceilings (i.e., no space between drywall, insulation, and roof sheeting) and she had areas where the roof sheeting had dry rotted away due to moisture buildup.
For our house, we used the sheeting with a foil backing, installed in the inside of the roof. Keeps heat from building up in the attic and it's noticeably cooler in the attic space.
Just kills me to think of all the wasted space up in those trusses....
As for the syslite, well, seems cool. But I have a backpacking headlamp with a retractable string headband. Led lights, and I just put it on my forehead and I have good light everywhere I look. Cost was $30....