Roofing nailer

300UGUY · Apr 5, 2015

I need to repair the roof on a commercial building I own. The shingles on one side a getting pretty funky. The other side already had a 2nd covering of shingles and looks ok. I plan on putting a 2nd roof on the bad side, I don't want to do a tear off, as I plan on selling the building in a couple of years. I plan on buying a air nailer of some sort to do the job. I need to use some pretty long nails, to go thru the old roof & the new. What would you guys recommend?

ultrarunner · Apr 5, 2015

Many years ago I bought a senco nailer and it's never missed a beat.

My neighbor bought a harbor freight and has done 3 roofs with it and no problems... said with the coupon... it was very cheap.

Code only allows one re-roof here without a tear-off... so even with premium shingles... material is not too thick.

truckdiagnostics · Apr 5, 2015

Bostitch coil roofing nailer. Then get a light weight air hose. Used it three times, now when anybody asks for help with there roof, I just loan them the nailer and tare off shovels. Its worth it just for that alone.

Teikas Dad · Apr 5, 2015

I bought a rebuilt Bostitch coil roofing nailer to do the roof on my workshop. It was like 1/3 the price of a new one and warrantied by Bostich. The paint on the outside was a bit rough but it worked fine.

SPIKER · Apr 5, 2015

I posted in other nailer thread & have 2 of the HF guns, I bought one and it didnt work well out of the box would blow nail thru today's cheap shingles. I took it back and it was replaced with a new one which worked better, I bought a 2nd one so myself and my brother could both hammer in nails when we did my GFs house 3 years ago... Both are working & thinking about selling one of them.

M

brokenknee · Apr 5, 2015

I have both a bostich and a hitachi roofing nailers'. If I am the only one roofing I grab the hitachi, it is a little lighter and the little bit of weight makes a big difference at the end of the day.

PILOON · Apr 5, 2015

I have an old beat up Makita that with a rebuild kit has proven flawless.
Bought it on EBay for pocket change and then rebuilt it.
All roofing nail guns use the same nail coils and most have adjustments for penetration depth.

I for one would prefer good used (or new) Hitachi, Bostitch or Makita over 'no brand' types.

FredH · Apr 5, 2015

I also have the Harbor Freight roofing nailer . Has worked flawless for over 3 years now on 4 different roofs . One roof was a repair of the third layer , ( 3 layers are allowed here by code before a strip down is required ) . One was a new install of 3 tab and another was a new install of rolled roofing . Have also used various size , ( length ) coil nails , again , with out any issue's . Actaully used some of the H.F. coiled nails and my nailer to nail up 16" steel flashing around the bottom of my parents pump house to keep the mice / rats / squirrels from chewing through the wood into the pump house .

Just like any other air tool , couple of drops of oil everyday before use and keep on nailing .

Fred H.

ultrarunner · Apr 6, 2015

My Senco are no oil models and one was actually damaged when someone oil it... otherwise no problems.

Guess I'm the only one with Senco?

rtimgray · Apr 7, 2015

I'm a big fan of the Harbor Freight nailers. I got my roofing nailer for about $60 with coupon and have done quite a bit of roofing. I haven't installed a second roof on top of an existing one with it, though, so I don't know how it would do with longer nails.

If you are close to a HF store, I don't think you can go too wrong with one, especially if you are planning on just doing this roof and then not much more down the road.

Good luck and take care.