What causes nails to pop on your roof?
You may have a roof that is 5 years old, or 20 years old. You’re starting to get a small leak in your roof. Climb up on your ladder and notice you have a nail that has lifted through your shingles. Why, and now what?
There are multiple reasons this could be happening. The most common cause that I have come across was that the installation was incorrect. What does that mean you ask? Well your roof may have 4×8 plywood sheets as sheathing, or may have 1×6 planks installed, which is more common on older homes. Sheathing is the material the shingles will be secured to. When nails are installed to hold the shingles down, they should be of correct length. The nail should go through the shingle and the roof sheathing. If the nail does not have a good bite, it will pop. The roof goes through a heat and cool cycle on a daily basis as the suns ultraviolet rays beat down on your roof. The wood will expand and shrink with temperature. The result of improper nailing will force these nails upward against gravity forcefully, but slowly. It is a good idea that as your roof is being installed, you go up in the attic and check for 100% penetration of nails through the roof sheathing. If you go look in your attic and see no nails, you may want to get that roof installer back out to fix your roof that will most likely fail prematurely
In some cases a second roof will be installed over an existing roof. This is perfectly acceptable (check with local regulations on allowable roof layers). If the nails used are not longer to allow for the extra material and sheathing penetration, guess what? The nails will work their way back out.
Some nails will pop due to a soft spot in the sheathing. There are many ways to repair these nails. I will not go into repairs as there are multiple youtube videos available.
Some nails will pop due to a soft spot in the sheathing. There are many ways to repair these nails. I will not go into repairs as there are multiple youtube videos available.
A new roof costs several thousand dollars. If you are going to be buying a home, or simply want your home inspected, make sure your home inspector will be walking your roof. It is very hard to find nail pops with a drone. Nobody wants to move into a house and find out the roof is failing prematurely.
