When preparing for aย roofing jobย you need more than just a good coil roofing nailer. You also need more than a solid understanding of OSHAย safety rules.ย Whether it be a complete re-shingle or simply a repair, youโreย bound to hear talk about a high-wind nailing pattern. This goes double if you live near the coast or anywhere in Florida. In hurricane-prone areas high-wind nailing patterns areย mandated by local building codes.
The high wind shingle nailing pattern came about (officially, at least) inย 2003. Since then, the International Building Code required roofers to fasten shingles using sixย nails. You must also properly space nails in front of the seal line. They required these high-wind-rated products on any roofs in wind regions rated at or above 110 mph. Shingle manufacturers now produce products rated somewhere between 60 and 130ย mph, using two-hour duration tests.
See our article on How to use a roofing nailer.
High Wind Nailing Pattern for 3-Tab Shingles
So what does this high windย nailing pattern look like? On traditional 3-tab shingles it would look likeย this:
Note that the nails are just below the tar line. Keep your nails on either sideย of the gap. You want them away from the middle of each individual shingle. That ensures the gap inย the shingle above doesnโt expose the nail head underneath. Here is a visual example ofย what you donโt want:
High Wind Nailing Pattern for Architectural Shingles
For architectural orย dimensional shingles, the nailing pattern would look something like this:
With architecturalย shingles, you donโt have to worry about nails poking through the gaps. Unlikeย 3-tab shingles, they use an architectural layer atop a solid layer so no gaps exist. As a result, you simplyย space out the nails evenly across the width of the shingle. Be sure to keepย around 1-inch in from the sides and keep the nails just below theย tar line. You also donโt want any nails to appear below the level of the shingle that rests on top of theย nails.
Additional Tips for the Work
Some roofing coilย nailers have an adjustable shingle guide. This lets you automatically set the positionย of the nail with respect to the bottom of the shingle. This is extremely handy,ย though after a while you will likely find yourself, guide-free,ย nailing away quickly and accurately once youโve done a couple of rows.
We recommend a 6 nailย pattern regardless of whether or not you live in a high-wind area. It simplyย doesnโt take all that much more effort. Most people use pneumatic roofing nailers, so adding n extra couple of hits takes little effort. Theย cost certainly isnโt much more either. Take into account the hassle associatedย with any kind of early roofing material failure, and youโll probably agree thatย a little extra time and money spent up front can save a lot of hassle down theย road.
