Roofing Staples vs. Nails: Which is Better for Shingles?

When a DIY homeowner visits the hardware store to buy fasteners for their new roof, they are presented with two options for the pneumatic guns: massive boxes of galvanized roofing nails, and massive boxes of heavy-duty roofing staples. Staples are significantly cheaper, and a staple gun fires incredibly fast. However, if you load a staple gun and begin shooting asphalt shingles onto your house, you are committing a catastrophic building error that will void your warranty and guarantee a massive roof failure in the first major windstorm.

Before you start firing any fasteners into your roof deck, you must calculate exactly how much material you are actually installing. Use our Free Roofing Calculator right now to compute your exact roof surface area and generate a mathematically flawless material estimate in seconds.

Table of Contents

1. The Great Debate: Roofing Staples vs. Nails
2. Why Shingle Staples Fail (The Tear-Through)
3. The Building Code Verdict
4. When Can You Use Staples for Roofing Felt?
5. Conclusion: The Ultimate Fastener
6. Frequently Asked Questions

---

The Great Debate: Roofing Staples vs. Nails

In the 1980s and 1990s, using heavy-duty, wide-crown roofing staples to install asphalt shingles was an incredibly popular industry practice.

Staples were cheaper to manufacture than nails. Because staples were packed in long, straight strips (instead of heavy circular coils), a roofer could load 200 staples into an air gun in seconds and fire them with blazing speed. However, as these roofs aged and faced severe weather, a massive structural flaw was revealed.

Why Shingle Staples Fail (The Tear-Through)

To hold an asphalt shingle securely to a roof, the fastener must have a massive amount of “holding power.”

• The Nail Advantage: A standard roofing nail features a massive, round, 3/8-inch diameter flat head. When the wind tries to rip the shingle upward, this massive circular head distributes the holding force safely across a wide area of the shingle’s fiberglass mat.
• The Staple Failure: A staple only holds the shingle down with a microscopic, thin wire crown (usually 1 inch wide). While the two legs of the staple bite deeply into the wood, the thin wire crown acts exactly like a cheese wire. When a 60 MPH wind gust lifts the edge of the shingle, the thin wire crown violently slices straight through the soft asphalt, and the entire shingle blows off the roof, leaving the staple perfectly intact in the wood.

Furthermore, staple guns must be fired perfectly perpendicular to the roof. If the worker slightly angles the gun, one leg of the staple drives too deep, crushing the shingle, while the other leg sticks up into the air, causing a massive leak.

The Building Code Verdict

Because shingle staples resulted in catastrophic wind failures across the country, the roofing industry completely changed its standards.

Today, almost every major shingle manufacturer (including GAF, Owens Corning, and CertainTeed) explicitly forbids the use of roofing staples to install asphalt shingles. If you use staples, your 50-year manufacturer warranty is instantly voided. Furthermore, the International Residential Code (IRC) strictly mandates the use of 3/8-inch head, corrosion-resistant roofing nails for all asphalt shingle installations.

When Can You Use Staples for Roofing Felt?

While you can never use staples on the heavy asphalt shingles, they are still widely used for the lightweight prep work.

Contractors heavily rely on pneumatic staple guns to rapidly install the thin synthetic underlayment (roofing felt) directly onto the plywood deck before the shingles go on. However, you cannot use standard bare wire staples (like a T50 staple). The building codes now require Cap Staples.

• A cap stapler shoots a standard staple, but it fires the staple perfectly through the center of a massive, 1-inch round plastic cap.
• The plastic cap acts exactly like the wide head of a roofing nail, holding the thin underlayment securely to the deck without tearing the fabric during a windstorm.

Conclusion: The Ultimate Fastener

The debate between staples and nails was settled decades ago by devastating windstorms. Attempting to save $40 by using shingle staples instead of galvanized roofing nails will result in thousands of dollars of water damage when your roof blows off in a summer thunderstorm. Always follow the manufacturer’s strict specifications, load your pneumatic coil nailer with 1.25-inch galvanized roofing nails, and guarantee your roof is structurally anchored for the next 30 years.

Once you have the correct fasteners ready in your toolbelt, you must ensure you have the exact amount of shingles waiting in the driveway. Head over to our Free Roofing Calculator right now. By inputting your home’s basic dimensions, the tool will instantly output your exact total square footage, giving you the flawless data required to order your roofing materials.

Related Guides

• Pneumatic Nail Gun Sets: Which Air Nailer Do You Need?
• Roofing Nail Gun: Battery vs Pneumatic Coil Nailers

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use staples to install cedar shakes?

No. While some old-school carpenters still debate this, the Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau explicitly states that wooden cedar shakes and shingles must be installed using rust-resistant (stainless steel or hot-dipped galvanized) box nails, not staples. Staples do not allow the wood to naturally expand and contract, leading to severe splitting.

What size nails are required for asphalt shingles?

Building codes dictate that the nail must be long enough to penetrate completely through the roofing material and extend at least 3/4 of an inch into the solid wood decking (or completely through the decking if it is less than 3/4 inch thick). For a standard roof replacement over 7/16-inch OSB plywood, a 1.25-inch galvanized roofing nail is the absolute standard.

Can I hand-drive roofing nails with a hammer?

Yes, absolutely. The building code and the manufacturer warranty only dictate the type of nail used, not how it is driven. Hand-driving roofing nails with a hammer is perfectly acceptable, highly accurate, and ensures the nail is driven perfectly flush without blowing through the shingle. However, it is incredibly slow and exhausting compared to a pneumatic nail gun.