How Long Are Roofing Nails

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How long are roofing nails.

Fasteners must be driven flush with the surface of the shingle. Fasteners should be long enough to penetrate at least 3 4 19mm into wood decks or just through the plywood decks. Roofing nails range from one to six inches in length. We have to use 30 mm long nails if we are installing thicker shingles like the laminated shingles cambridge xpress or cambridge xtreme 9 5.

Nails of the proper length should penetrate three fourths of an inch into the roof deck. The thickness of the nail is directly proportional to its length thus the longer the nail the bigger its size. The more common roof thickness is 3 4 inch decking. The length of the nail is the shank and the shank can also vary.

When installing asphalt shingles on felt only to any grade decking you should use 1 inch long roofing nails. Use only zinc coated steel or aluminum 10 12 gauge barbed deformed or smooth shank roofing nails with heads 3 8 10mm to 7 16 12mm in diameter. Standard lengths are between 1 and 2 inches 2 and 5 centimeters but they are also available at lengths of up to 6 inches 15 centimeters. If you re applying a thin shingle to a wood surface and no other shingles are present you might be able to get by with nails that are only one and one quarter inch long.

The shingle warranties are very specific about the nail length and you want the right nail so they have enough holding power to resist blowing off by strong winds. Continue reading below our video of the day nails that are longer than six inches are called pikes and they are seldom used on roofs.