Staples vs Nails for Shingles Roofing: A Comparison

When a hire a roofing company you want the assurance that the job is done right, and to know your new roof will protect your house for years and years to come. If you are adding asphalt shingles, your roofer has the choice between nailing or stapling the shingles to your roof. Here’s a few things to keep in mind about how the roofing company will attach the shingles.

Roofing Staples

In the past, roofers preferred staple guns for attaching shingles to roof sheeting. For one, staples cost less than nails, adding to their profit per roof. Staples also offered excellent holding strength and could be installed over a larger roof area quickly.

Roofing staple guns were light and easy to use over the newer and heavier roofing nail guns that were coming onto the market. Staple guns were also easier to repair if staples got jammed. For these reasons, staples were preferred by most roofers. But then something changed. Roofing nail gun manufacturers went to work to build better nail guns to outperform staple guns.

New Innovations in Nail Guns

Today roofing nail guns are the preferred choice by roofing companies. This is because roofing nail guns have undergone innovations that make them much easier to use, firing nails with greater precision than roofing staple guns. Roofing staple guns have not changed much, but they are still used by some roofing companies. Roofers using staple guns need a great deal of experience to use the guns right. For example, if a roofing staple is not shot perpendicular to the shingle along the nail strip, the holding strength of the shingle is compromised.

If not experienced with staple guns, it is easy to over-drive or under-drive the staple. Over-driving is when too much pressure is applied and the staple gets buried down inside the shingle. This will weaken the shingle and cause a potential breaking point. Under-driving is when not enough pressure is applied and there is gap between the top of the staple and the shingle. This leaves the shingle loose, which could allow wind to get under the shingle and force it loose. This is not an issue with roofing nails because the round nail heads lay flat against the single.

It is important to drive the nail straight into the single, and today’s roofing guns are designed to do that or the gun will not fire. Also, a roofing nail head is approximately 1/4 inch in diameter. A roofing staple is a little more than 1/16 inch wide. In some areas of the country, building codes do not allow roofing staples for roof installation for these reasons.

Today’s roofing nail guns are designed to hold high-capacity nail magazines. This get the works done faster as you don’t need to reload nails as frequently. Staple guns have used the same nail cartridges for years. Nail guns have other features such as adjustable depth of drive so you can set the depth of the nail for optimal hold against the shingle.

Your roofer can find an array of high-quality, discount building materials in Stockbridge, GA, that will ensure your roof will withstand the harshest wet winters. Be sure that the roofing company you hire uses nails or staples with a galvanized coating, or stainless-steel roof nails or staples. Both types prevent rust and rust run off from spreading over the new shingles.

To learn more about the steps in the roofing process, and how to ensure that only high-quality, warrantied roofing materials are used on your roof installation, contact Preferred Roofing at 678.395.6880.