Nailing Vs Stapling Roof Shingles

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Nailing vs stapling roof shingles.

Research on use of staples vs nails in asphalt shingle roofs. They rust they back out they don t hold and they put two holes through the roof shingle whereas a nail only one. Some shingles after roof traffic will cut through the upper shingle leaving an exposed nail head. Also the roofer fires off more than needed into the shingle.

Shingles are designed to be nailed in specific locations and the nail must be driven to a certain depth. This sketch points out that mis driven nails can also lead to shingle wind damage live link given below. They don t have to. The farther off horizontal the staple is driven the closer together the staple points are and the less wood is captured between the points.

Au contraire pgriz but staples do have an advantage over nails. Under pressured tools leave the nails high causing the shingle above to be lifted and suspect to wind blow offs. Staples should be totally banned from the roofing industry. Staples are the method used years ago that gave machine roofing a bad name.

A hand nailer can tell better if a nail is high and will give it another hit. There is a right way and a wrong way to nail a shingle to a roof. Staples do not hold as well as nails they have less area to hold the shingle and many times are not set right and cut the shingles. Proper stapling also means keeping the staple crowns horizontal or level.

I ve had nothing but problems with our roof because of them. When the first strong wind blows half of the shingles off it makes life sooo much easier for the next person. I assume if your distributor is demoing staples they must be legal in your area though. In the past roofers preferred staple guns for attaching shingles to roof sheeting.

Staples are not recommended by hodges roofing and most industry organizations. Staples for shingle applications are staples recommended as fasteners for asphalt shingles. At the end of the day the placement of each nail will determine the durability of your shingles. Ideal nail placement on roof shingles is limited to a very small area.

The roofing nail sketch of common roof shingle nailing errors shown here is a detail from fema s asphalt shingle roofing for high wind regions 2. The importance of nail placement. If the nail is driven outside that area it could impair the roof and void the manufacturer s warranty. As with nails overdriven staples break the surface of the shingle which weakens their holding power.

For one staples cost less than nails adding to their profit per roof.