Q & A - Is My Ridge Vent Nailed Correctly?

When you can clearly see the shaft of the nails, there is an issue with the installation of this ridge vent.

What’s wrong with this photo? This photo was recently sent to me with the question, "Is my ridge vent nailed correctly? My roofer says it is.”

When you can clearly see the shaft of the nails, there is an issue with the installation of a ridge vent. Normally the ridge vent is nailed down with nails being long enough to go through the roofing and the sheathing or at least 3/4 of an inch into the roof sheathing. When the ridge vent is secured down to the roof, the ridge caps can then also be installed using the properly sized nails.

Without actually being on this roof I cannot be sure what is wrong with this ridge vent. The lifting up could mean the nails were not long enough to grab the roof sheathing and have backed up and out of the shingles. This ridge vent looks to be about one inch thick. If the roofer used the same 1-1/4 inch nails, commonly used for the field shingles, to fasten the ridge vent, then the results will be what is shown in this photo. The correct length in my opinion to nail this ridge vent is a 2-inch comp nail.

Most roofers use pneumatic nail guns to fasten the shingles down called “comp guns.” Most of these comp guns shoot comp nails 3/4 – 1-3/4 and work well for shingle application. They speed up the nailing process of a roofing project, but if the correct nail length is not used it is a bad job.

The high winds of a winter storm can actually blow a poorly nailed roof off. The ridge caps and ridge vent being at the top of a roof are highly susceptible to wind damage and must be fastened to the roof using the correct length nails. If the nail gun cannot use long enough nails then purchase a box of loose comp nails long enough to reach the roof sheathing. Do it right the first time and avoid blow-offs.

Have a question? AskARoofer.

Find your local roofing contractor in the RoofersCoffeeShop® Contractor Directory.