WHY WE HAND NAIL OUR SHINGLES

We may be the only roofing company in Juneau that nail our shingles by hand.

It is faster to use a pneumatic nailer but we have seen so many problems with the use

of these air nailers that we choose to nail by hand to assure your roof receives the

consistent quality that hand nailing offers and to prevent what you see below!.

EXAMPLES OF AIR NAILING PROBLEMS SHOWING UP AFTER SEVERAL YEARS

Inconsistency of air pressure * Under driven nails* Over driven nails* Tipped nails

After several years of exposure to snow loads, the nails poke through the tab above.

 

Park Place Condos * Example - 4 units with hundredsof nails showing through

 

Below * Tamarack Trails Condos showing patches over failing nails

 

BELOW BY "DONE RIGHT ROOFING"

Figure 1: The nail is properly applied. The head of the nail has been driven in to the point it is fully against the shingle, pressing the shingle tightly aginst the deck below.

Figure 2: This shows what happens when an air nail gun is used, but not enough air pressure is applied. The nail does not fully rest against the shingle. This allows the shingles to flop during high winds and can cause the shingle to tear and be blown off. Because wood varies in density (there are "hard" spots and "soft" spots), setting the air pressure is guesswork, at best. Sure one could set it so for 90% of the roof, the nails are driven properly, but what happens when you drive the nail into a hard spot in the decking? You get the situation illustrated in Figure 2.

And what happens when you hit a soft spot? You get the situation illustrated in Figure 3.

Figure 3: The soft spot in the decking offers less resistant to the nail, therefore the nail is driven in further, sometimes completely though the shingle. For all practical purposes, the nail in Figure 3 is not holding the shingle at all. So, yes a worker could set his nail gun air setting to drive 90% of the nails into the roof properly but that leaves the 10% which are driven in improperly. Are you willing to give up 10% of your shingle to the next windstorm, simply because of poor workmanship?

Hand nailing means every nail is driven in by hammer. The proper amount of pressure can be applied to make sure each nail is set properly, ensuring a good tight seal of the shingles to your decking. Figure 1 above is what you want, and the best way to achieve that is hand nailing.