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In the past, many shingle manufacturers didn’t recommend the use of nail guns when installing a new shingle roof. In that time, hand nailing was more popular. Most of them preferred an application with a shingle hatchet. Recently things have changed and a lot of roofing contractors started using different power tools, including nail guns.

Their main reason to use nail guns is to save time. A second reason is to facilitate the roofer’s job by reducing the manual work. Shingle producers also introduced special designed shingles with zones for accurate nailing. IKO offers two different laminated shingles, Cambridge Xpress and Cambridge Xtreme 9,5°, produced with nailing lanes for the fastening with a nail gun.

But the main question is: what is better, hand nailing or nailing with a nail gun? While many roofers have strong feelings one way or the other, the only thing that really matters is a shingle roof installed with the highest quality. Both methods of application have their own strengths and weaknesses, let’s compare. But first..

The placement of each roofing nail will eventually determine the durability of roof shingles. Shingles are designed to be nailed on a specific location and the nail must be driven to a certain depth. Usually the nailing location is situated ± 25 mm above the cut-out and 25 mm from the end. However, on our laminated Cambridge shingles the position of the nails is between the two white lines which we also call the nailing lane or zone.

Every roofing nail must penetrate the wooden deck with a minimum of 19 mm. If this position or depth of the nail is off by even a little, water might penetrate inside or the shingle may be blown off in high winds. IKO’s manufacturing warranty coverage might also be voided if the inspection finds that the reason of the problem was incorrect nail placement.

For more tips on proper nailing, take a look at this blog.