Exposed Roof Nails, Pump Jack Holes
and Other Shingle Installation Mistakes
A shingle roof is mostly overlap. Every nail is supposed to sit where the next course covers it, and the small mistakes show up as bare metal on the surface.
A single roofing nail driven an inch too low in Clackamas. Staples showing on the face of a shingle in Tigard. Open holes in a La Center roof where a siding crew had nailed scaffold brackets and left. In Russ’s recent reports, more than 40 of 269 houses had a roof fastener finding of some kind, and 18 had holes from pump jacks or other temporary equipment.
None of these look like much from the driveway. They’re small. But a shingle roof works because each course covers the nails of the course below it, and every exposed fastener is a spot where that stopped being true.
Where a shingle nail is supposed to go
Every asphalt shingle has a nailing zone printed or marked on it, usually a band just below the sealant strip. The nails go in that band. The next course up then covers the nail heads completely, and the sealant strip glues the tab down over them.
Nail too high and the nail misses the top edge of the shingle underneath, so each shingle hangs on fewer nails than it should. That’s the one that shows up after a windstorm, when tabs lift and tear. Nail too low and the head ends up on the exposed face of the shingle, where rain hits it directly.
Russ found low-nailed shingles in Clackamas, Gresham, Ridgefield and Vancouver. In one Ridgefield house the nails had been driven below the nail line in two spots and then patched over with roofing sealant. In a Portland house, the courses themselves were installed too far apart, which exposed the nail line and the sealant strip on part of the roof.
Real Inspection Photos
Roof Fastener Findings From Russ's Inspections
Exposed nails, pump jack holes, sealant patches and shiners from Russ's recent reports.
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Holes in the shingles that appeared to be left by pump jack brackets during exterior work. -
A nail head on the face of a field shingle, with no course above it to cover it. -
A nail driven below the overlap, leaving the head exposed instead of covered by the next course. -
Sealant over a nail driven below the nail line. Patches like this need checking and redoing over time. -
From the attic: sheathing nails that missed the rafters below, often called shiners.
Exposed and protruding fasteners
Some exposed nails are expected. The last ridge cap shingle at the end of a ridge has to be face-nailed, and the heads get sealed. The same goes for some flashing and vent flanges. Russ’s report wording for those is simple: exposed roof fasteners should be sealed to help prevent rust and moisture intrusion.
The ones he writes up as installation problems are different. A nail head sitting on the face of an ordinary field shingle, with no reason to be there. A Vancouver roof had one, and the report called it an apparent installation mistake. A nail that has backed out and is pushing the shingle up from underneath, like the protruding fastener at the back corner of another Vancouver roof. Staples on the face of a shingle in Tigard. Corroded nail heads on a La Center roof, some already rusting.
A second layer of shingles nailed over the first is another install choice that shows up in reports. The post on two layers of shingles covers what it means for the next roof.
Why one nail is worth writing up: water runs down the shank. Over a few years of Portland rain, a rusty nail hole lets water into the roof deck one drip at a time, and the first sign is usually a stain on a ceiling. The post on ceiling water stains covers how to tell an old one from an active one.
Staples are an older method that most shingle makers no longer recommend. They have less holding power than a roofing nail, and a staple driven crooked tears the mat.
Pump jack holes and other borrowed roofs
Siding, gutter and painting crews sometimes need something to stand on near the roof edge. Pump jack brackets and roof anchors get nailed through the shingles, and when the job is done, the brackets come off and the holes stay behind.
Russ found pump jack holes in Troutdale, Beaverton and La Center, among others. In La Center, the holes were still open, leaving the deck and underlayment exposed. In a Tigard house, the holes where temporary safety equipment had been attached were dabbed with sealant. His report noted that relying on surface sealant alone is a short-term fix.
These are worth knowing about on a house with newer siding or fresh paint. The siding job looks great from the street. The roof above it may have taken a few holes for it.
Shiners and missed sheathing nails
From the attic, Russ looks at the underside of the roof deck. Sheathing nails that miss the rafter or truss poke through as bright points beside the framing. Roofers call them shiners.
A Portland house that had new OSB sheathing laid over the original spaced boards had numerous shiners. A La Center attic had sheathing staples that missed the trusses in several areas. Nails that miss the framing don’t hold the sheathing down. In cold weather they also collect frost from attic moisture, which then drips onto the insulation. If an attic has a lot of frosted nail tips, the bath fan and attic ventilation posts are worth a read too.
What prior repairs tell a buyer
Blobs of black or clear sealant on a shingle roof are a clue. Sometimes they cover an exposed nail that should have been sealed. Sometimes they cover a hole from equipment, a removed satellite dish or a leak somebody chased. Sealant dries out in sun and cold, so a patch from five years ago may not be doing much now.
A roofer can usually replace a damaged shingle so the nails go back under an overlap. That’s a small repair. A whole roof nailed high or low is a different conversation, because the problem is in every course and can’t be seen without lifting shingles. When the pattern looks widespread, Russ recommends a qualified roofing contractor evaluate the whole roof.
What Russ checks on a shingle roof
He walks the roof when it’s safe, or flies a drone when it isn’t. He looks at the shingle surface for exposed and lifted fasteners, open holes, sealant patches and courses that don’t line up. In the attic, he looks at the underside of the deck for shiners, staining and daylight. He doesn’t lift shingles or pull nails, and he can’t see the nailing on courses that look normal from above.
- Shingle tabs that are lifted, curled at a corner or missing after a windstorm
- Rows of small holes or sealant dots along the roof edge below new siding
- Shiny dots of sealant scattered across the field of the roof
- Rust streaks running down from nail heads or flashing
- A ceiling stain below a roof that otherwise looks newer
Most shingle roof leaks start small. Nails driven below the overlap, staples on the shingle face and holes from siding crews’ pump jacks were the fastener findings that came up most often in Russ’s reports. Sealant over them is a short-term fix, not a permanent one.
For the rest of the roof, the guide to what to look at on a roof before you make an offer covers age, moss and flashing, and the roof moss post covers the north-side problem every Portland roof eventually has. To set up an inspection, you can book online.
Roof Nail FAQ
