Hi all:

My house is about 15 years old. The center of the house has a
cathedral ceiling two stories high. On either side of this area, the
ceilings are standard 8'. The vertical wall separating the attic
above these spaces from the room with a cathedral ceiling is insulated
with what appears to be R-19 fiberglass batts. The walls are studded
with 2x4's, which leaves some of the insulation protruding on the
attic side of the walls. The builder used clear polyethylene plastic,
stapled to the studs, to hold the batts in place. After 15 years of
attic heat (I live in South Carolina), the plastic has begun to
literally fall apart. Very little of the insulation has shifted, but
I am concerned that it will. I can see the paper vapor barrier
against the back side of the drywall, as is typical in my climate.
Presumably, the paper is stapled to the studs on the drywall side, but
I can't tell for sure. Even if it is, there are a couple of places
where the insulation is separating from the paper, so I need to find a
way to support the insulation.

I want to replace the plastic, but I am concerned that if I use
plastic sheeting, it will become a second vapor barrier, which I
understand is undesirable. Also, I don't want to be doing this again
in another 15 years. I found some plastic anti-bird netting at a
local home center that is supposed to be UV stable. It's essentially
a 5/8" square mesh made from plastic. I thought about stapling this
over the insulation to hold it in place, but I wonder how long it will
last. I guess I could use metal chicken wire (poultry mesh, if you're
PC), but wouldn't that interfere with radio and cell phone signals?
Do they make a product specifically for this application? If so, what
is it called? Any other ideas?

Thanks in advance,
John.