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nails guns and decking

15K views 33 replies 16 participants last post by  caliroofer 
Until I started my company I had never touched a roofing nailer. Infact all the roofs I had sold were hand nailed. It's hard to find guys willing to hand nail, but those that have been doing it for their entire careers and do it every day will be equally as fast as a crew using guns.

I used to think that a gun nailed roof meant a bad roof. I have changed my opinion on that. While it is easier to make a mistake if you rusha nd go too fast with a gun nailed roof, you can still definetly get a good roof if you have installers who care about what they are doing.

Finding guys who care doesn't matter if they are using a gun or not, it's a whole other discussion... but if your guys don't care the roof will suck regardless.
 
Some people will ask about it, but I ask them if there something about using a gun that they don't like and explain that a good roofer can use either method and be as good or bad as anyone else.
But to answer the question only a couple times a season.
Here's the deal. Hand nailing is good marketing! Find something to set yourself apart. I used to make a huge deal about hand nailing in my sales presentations. I know it mattered, because the whole point was: quality quality quality. They didn't care that I was hand nailing or gun nailing. INfact they probably forgot after I left their presence. The point was I was making a huge deal about how we care and how we go the extra mile.

So I have been convinced, like Ed said, either can be done right or wrong. But I still beleive in quality and I still explain the fact that we are goign the extra mile, I just now leave out the part about hand nailing.

Ditto to roof safe on the exposed soffit. I don't ask though, I bring it up and state. "Oh and BTW on your exposed soffit, you don't want to see a bunch of nails do you? Did anyone else bring this up with you (set yourself apart)? Yeah it's very important we use shorter nails in this area or else you're going to see each and every nail from the bottom, and that's going to be very ugly. We use 1 1/4" roofing nails on the rest of the roof but on this section we'll be using 3/4" or 7/8" roofing nails so they don't poke through."
 
You can do a square in 5 minutes? I'll just give you a blank check to come work for me. I don't see how that's possible and have never heard anyone ever say they could do a square in anywhere near 5 minutes.

I'm assuming you mean after the felt was all set... but still 12 squares an hour?

LOL I personally can't do 12 squares in a day. I'm out of shape, fat and lazy though.
 
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