Of Felt & Fasteners

So I've been trying to pin down my preferred method of felting lately. For years we mostly ran 15# asphalt felt(Atlas brand when available) w/ slap hammers or 'tacker hammers.' Lately we have been running titanium 30# which is amazing. I've ran several other brands of synthetic felt, but none have compared to titanium but they were all way cheaper. I'd like to try GAF's tiger paw because it's about the same price as titanium. The local stores around here only stock Titanium and REX(blah), and I've not cared for any other sample roll I've tried.

For cap staplers I've had no luck w/ the Bostitch guns, whose nail guns we use exclusively. I then tried the manual Stinger cap staplers. They soon revealed their flaws, which is irritating me just thinking about them. I recently borrowed a Paslod pneumatic cap stapler and it was nice, but the ammo is $50 per bucket here! Has anybody tried Senco's cap stapler?

No, it's a 50# box. I buy from Unimet online.

1" EG felt nails is what I use, except if I'm felting as I go on slate. I just use my copper slate nails same as I would if installing a copper roof. They're only $350. per box.

I did quite a bit of roofing in south florida a few years ago. I and my workers were so surprised to see the "tin-tab" method which is code there. We used plastic caps in central florida but tin tabs!? Anyway we ended up becoming fast at installing this way and in the process ended up adopting it as our preferred underlayment. To those who don't know, we roll out 30# then we nail it down with 1 1/2" ring shank roofing nails nailed through thin, 1 1/2" wide galvanized circles. In south florida the code is to nail every 4inches on the seams and two evenly spaced rows in the field no more than 6inches apart. This underlayment holds up extremely well to foot traffic while keeping the structure dried in during installation and still allows the roof to breathe. I was on a shingle roof install in michigan this summer and saw the ol 15# with slap tackers and it looked so unsafe to walk on, especially around the bundle stacks. I hate synthetic underlayments. I won't even take a job where they're specified.

magnetic hammer

Try a magnetic hammer, their hard to beat

Try a magnetic hammer their hard to beat

Tavin: That seems to be the consensus, although I'd always heard staples were BS. But now I'm wondering when air nailers will go that route haha. But this thread is about fastening felt...

We actually picked up a new tool. The AJC magnetic hatchet. Thanks OS, err your heritage anyhow! That thing is pretty damn handy at times.

twill59 Said: dont like the Stingers either. Weve been using Crossfires for years.....but ya need an air hose.

we are Looking for something airless

But I think people have some of the staplers in the houses, if we use them in roofing it never lost a shingle.I think a good shingle and proper placement of staplers is the most important thing.

Its not a cap system, it is a pneumatic air stapler from sweden. Hold the trigger down and it will shoot all the staples out like a machine gun.

I simply see no reasons to use cap nails. But then again we only remove roofing that we can put back on that day.

Wywoody, I've never used the 50. I'm having trouble choking down the $136 a roll we pay for the T30! Up until this past winter we used 15# felt w/ staples only so it's been a good change.

I bet that 50 would be great for tarp/patches if you can't do them for a few months. I put the 30 on a bunch of roofs in April, some of which still haven't been done and its holding up well.

shinglemonkey: Never heard of kihlberg until now. Does it use caps? I hated using caps until I had to start using them every day

We still use the Kilberg felt stapler with the 3/8" staple. The saved time in production pays for the tools very quickly.

i feel for you guys that have to cap nail, that would be enough to get me off the roofs.

I figured I should update/ this in case anybody searches on the matter....

I've been using the Bostitch lately and it's not giving me nearly the problem we were having. I've been running it a lot MYSELF and if you keep it oiled, have proper air pressure, and make sure your hitting w/ the gun completely parallel to the roof, it shoots pretty well. If you kick it into high gear you will normally find a few staples sticking up. Also the caps are the cheapest, we like that! Note: I never did find my Crossfire so I have no opinion of it at this time.

i hand nailed and framed for 20 years now my right elbow is shot hand nailing is more "fun" and a delivers better product but I recommend the new rofers to use to slow down and use the "guns" with proper technique and when they hit 50 their body will be happpier http://www.rooferscoffeeshop.com/rcs/users/ktrepairs/

Hand nailing works for me. No cap nails though. I use regular felt nails. The 1" eg, since EG can't be used for roofing.

In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day we have to nail cap nails in the laps every 6 inches and 12 inches in the field to the next nearest fastener. B) :) :) B) Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day