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fthurber
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# Posted: 23 Dec 2011 10:05pm
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I am starting to shingle my cabin and and am running low on shingle nails.
My old shingle nails were hot-dipped galvanized nails but when I went to Home Depot today all they had were "electro-galvanized" shingle nails. When I objected the employee said they were just as good and everyone (including professional roofers) is using electro-galvanized.
Correct me if I wrong but isn't "electro-galvanized" just some marketing weasel-words for electro-plating? And doesn't plating mean that the zinc is only a few atoms thick? I find it hard to believe that these nails are as good as hot-dipped.
I can believe that everyone is using them even (especially?) professional roofers but I wonder if it will shorten the life of my roof. What do you think?
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Just
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# Posted: 23 Dec 2011 11:13pm
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The pro's are all using nail guns with plated nails ,only time will tell !!!
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 24 Dec 2011 12:30am
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What kind of shingles? Asphalt? The nails are not getting wet every time it rains, they are under the shingle that's nailed above. Unless they are being nailed into PT wood there is no problem. I've removed 25 yr old asphalt shingles, ones I installed with electro-plated roofing nails, and the nails are still good.
IMO, the nails will outlast any asphalt shingle. If you are doing cedar shakes I don't have an opinion as I have no experience with them.
Online there are several vendors of hot dipped roofing nails.
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larry
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# Posted: 24 Dec 2011 03:36pm
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don is right ,the nails are under the shingles. rust is not a problem
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fthurber
Member
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# Posted: 26 Dec 2011 09:23am
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Thanks. I guess I am being paranoid. It is for asphalt shingles so I guess I am OK. I would prefer cedar shingles but they do not last at my place because my wife will not let me "harvest" trees around my construction projects so the roofs do not get as much sun as they should.
Time will tell about a lot of modern construction practices...
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TomChum
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# Posted: 26 Dec 2011 06:47pm - Edited by: TomChum
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Quoting: SquidLips Time will tell about a lot of modern construction practices...
True, you will have to wait around awhile to know, but the longer you wait the better.
Regarding shingles, my father-in-law's cedar shingles lasted 30 years in rainy wet wet western Washington near Tacoma. The guy who I bought my shingles from for my little cabin showed me the cedar shingles on his house (in a much drier climate) which were near the end of their life at 35 years.
Asphalt shingles last a long time. I think their main problem is when they lose their sand, for example if trees rub on them, or moss growing, loosens it. Or other ways the sand is knocked off, such as pressurewashing carefully too many times or once without care.
A couple pertinent questions:
1) How long do you need this roof to last to satisfy yourself?
2) If it lasts 30 years the way your wife likes it or 35 the way you like it, which was the better option?
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fthurber
Member
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# Posted: 27 Dec 2011 02:02pm - Edited by: fthurber
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I have done a few cedar re-shingling jobs and have seen nails that rusted through, but I do not remember if the original nails were galvanized. [Probably considering the age of the roofs; I suspect that the "electro-galvanized" weasel words are a recent thing.] But, obviously, the nails in cedar shingles get wet.
I have not done a lot of re-shingling of asphalt shingles so I do not remember if the nails get wet and rust or if they were installed incorrectly in the first place.
The inportant thing for me is spend a few extra bucks to get hot-dipped galvanized so I don't have to worry about it. Getting a leak in a cabin can be nothing short of disasterous because you could be out of the cabin for months before you come back and find a soaked floor. I plan to have a solid cherry wood floor (someone gave it to me for taking them striper fishing) so I am being careful about the roof.
Home Depot only had the "electro-galvanized" (plated) as did True Value hardware, alas. I had to use some of these near the peak yesterday when I ran out of the good stuff.
The quality place in my area (Dartmouth Building Supply) had hot-dipped but not in small qualities.
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adakseabee
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# Posted: 27 Dec 2011 08:00pm
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Even better would be stainless steel nails if you can afford the extra cost, and you might be able to get them in a smaller quantity than the hot-dipped from Dartmouth.
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fthurber
Member
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# Posted: 27 Dec 2011 09:22pm
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I asked about stainless and they rolled their eyes. "We COULD get them if you REALLY want them..." Hmmm maybe use bronze like planking a ships hull resist the salt spray during hurricanes and northeasters.... ; ^)
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fthurber
Member
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# Posted: 30 Dec 2011 06:49pm
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I have been to all the big box stores, and all they have are the weasel-word, electro galvanized nails. A few years ago I did buy some hot-dipped nails from a quality building store (JT's in Middletown, RI), but I have been able to get down there since alas nor am I certain they still carry these nails.
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Martian
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# Posted: 30 Dec 2011 06:54pm
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Find yourself a real hardware store; someplace that's been there awhile. They'll probably have glavanized roofing nails, but those shiny ones will last longer than those shingles will.
Tom
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Martian
Member
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# Posted: 30 Dec 2011 06:57pm
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Quoting: SquidLips But, obviously, the nails in cedar shingles get wet.
Not if done properly.
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fthurber
Member
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# Posted: 1 Jan 2012 10:22am - Edited by: fthurber
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Sorry to bother you all with such a minor thing as shingle nails, but I guess it is the principle of the thing that makes me interested in the subject. I am willing to spend a few extra buck for quality, but the trend seems to be toward cheap, slap-dash, condo-style construction these days.
I did finally find some hot-hipped galvanized nails at JT's in Newport, Rhode Island. I bought a lot of them because their new stock was the electro-galvanized nails! Yikes. JT's had superior quality so this was a little discouraging. What was really discouraging was that the place was deserted, while the weekend-warrior lemmings were flocking to the Big Box stores, sigh.
I tried two local hardware stores; one in Providence (Adlers which is usually great) and one in Westport MA (Ace) but neither had the hot-dipped. None of the Lowes or Home Depots had them, but that was not surprising.
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