I just had my first Wind Mit with Radiant Barrier hiding the sheathing.
In my opinion, to start opening the radiant barrier in an attempt to find the nail spacing and nail size would be considered intrusive inspecting. I declined to continue the inspection even though the client agreed “I” could open the barrier. I felt there was too much liability on my part to continue, plus I felt responsible to put the barrier back in place as I found it. That was impossible because I don’t carry a staple gun and it’s considerably more work.
I personally would remove. Not saying thats what you should do or that is what the industry standard is but that is how we do things. You need to figure out what is the best business choice for your company. Ours is we do what it takes, dont make a big deal about it, and finish the job. Sometimes people even pay us more for our effort. Most of the time we get a lot more work because of it.
Look where you can. Many time I can find nails at a torn spot, or a hip truss. Look down from the ridge until you find a shiner or side splitter. After find one stick your ruler in about where you think it is and look again. When you get the ruler close, click a picture from the top.
Use a hip truss to locate and mark spacing.
I have used decking from a roof plane, that is in the attic. You can see the nails from the top.
If you can not do it any of those ways I ask them to remove it. If they do not or can not I mark unknown.
