The Proper Way to Nail Shingles on Charlotte Residential Roofs

High Top Roofing brings over 30 years of roofing installation and repair service experience to all of the residential and commercial roofing projects we work on in the Charlotte, North Carolina market.

Because of our extensive experience, we believe strongly that best practices should be followed when installing Charlotte residential roofing shingles.

When you contact High Top Roofing for your next project, you should expect straight forward advice and a customized recommendation for your home. And we’ll take the time to explain the high quality workmanship methods we use to ensure that your Charlotte residential roofing shingles are properly attached.

Shingles have a fiberglass mat and have asphalt applied to both the bottom and top of the shingle. Proper nailing techniques are essential to ensuring that the integrity of the shingle is maintained at all times in order to prevent leaks. These techniques also help prevent premature failure, blistering, and blow-offs.

Here are some of the best practices that we use to ensure that your new roofing shingles will last for many years to come.

Shingle Nails Must be the Right Length

The shingle nails must be long enough to ensure that they penetrate the roof deck by a minimum of ¾ of an inch.

Shingle Nails Must be Driven in Straight

It sounds like Roofing 101 doesn’t it? Yet you would be surprised at how often we find roofing leaks that have been caused because the nails were driving in at an angle. Nails that are driven in at an angle tear the fiberglass mat and compromise the integrity of the shingle. Whenever we discover shingles installed this way, we have to replace them with new ones.

The Right Quantity of Nails per Shingle Should be Used

As a general rule four nails per shingle are required. However, in high-wind zones, six nails per shingle may be required.

Nails Must be Placed  in the Proper Location on the Shingle

The type of roofing shingle used will determine both the precise location for the nails. When nails are not placed in the proper location, it’s possible that the bottom ply can come unglued and fall off the roof leading to roof leaks. When nails are not properly located, the shingles can also become loose leading to leaks as well.

Nails Must be Driven in to the Proper Depth into the Shingle

It is not uncommon for us to find residential roofs in Charlotte that have nails that have been driven in too deep into the shingle. This can typically happen with inexperienced roofing crews who just hammer in the nail too deep or if the compressor pressure is set to high on a pneumatic hand gun. Regardless of how it happens the fiberglass mat of the shingle is torn and the shingle needs to be replaced.

Learn more about:

Why our pneumatic hand gun installation process produces a higher quality roof

Poor Charlotte Residential Roofing Work on Very Expensive Homes.

Unexpected Causes of Charlotte Residential Roofing Leaks

Charlotte Residential Roofing Shingle Maintenance

We’ll take the time to explain how each of the above best practices for nailing shingles to your Charlotte residential roof will produce the best long term result for you.

Earl Fremin is the author of this post. He is the president and owner of High Top Roofing and the author of the Charlotte Roofing and Construction Blog. High Top Roofing is a fully licensed and bonded roofing company with an “A+” rating from the Better Business Bureau and an “A” rating on Angie’s list. We offer the highest quality residential and commercial roofing services to the Charlotte metro area including Union County.

The parent company of High Top Roofing is Fremin Construction, Inc. . The company offers residential and commercial construction services in the Charlotte metro area.

Call High Top Roofing at 704-989-3189 or request your free estimate today!

Learn more about Charlotte residential roofing or Charlotte construction companies.
 
The company’s service offerings are featured on its web site at www.hightoproof.com.