Air nailer vs air stapler

[John_M]

Anyone have any experience with both.  I know a lot of people are attaching sheathing with staples (7/16" crown staples).  I need to possibly buy an air stapler for the cedar shingles I am installing and figured that the stapler could be used for the sheathing and the shingles?

Any info?  Opinions?

[PEG688]

Staples do not pass code in my area for sheathing . Buy the nail gun.

Get one that shoots full round headed nails , the nails are cheaper than clip heads around here anyway.

 I do not recommend stapling on cedar shingles , or comp. roofing with nail guns .

 To many nails / staples get over driven produces  poor results . IMO.

  Many do it , I do not .
 

 Good luck, PEG  

[Jochen]

And keep in mind that you should use stainless or hot dipped galvanized nails for your cedar shingles. We hand nailed our cedar siding as well. No air nailer for that kind of work.

Jochen

[PEG688]

And keep in mind that you should use stainless or hot dipped galvanized nails for your cedar shingles. We hand nailed our cedar siding as well. No air nailer for that kind of work.

Jochen

 Good man Jochen 8-)  

[Ryan B]

I use both daily. Either are just as easy to misuse. I built a staple roof on the Oregon coast headlands that has seen multiple 100 mph winds with no problems. Biggest problem is the wind driven water blows in the vinyl window drain holes.
As PEG alludes codes and hopefully practical experience might limit there installation location. On a different job in snow contry I just pulled some 50 year 3 tab and no staples showing through the roof sheeting – I guess the boys were too tired to change from ½" to ¾"...made the owner aware of the problem (his not mine) and thought at least when they do slide off it will be in one big sheet and easy to repair.
There has been some discussion about the staple heads cutting though water soaked wood but by then it seems the damage has long been done.
From the pictures that I have seen in different fastener in failure modes – staples will not work as well in shear walls. Staples in uplift prevention work just as well as nails. If your comparing ring shank nails to staples remember the apple to oranges analogy. Common code books all address this with limitations and crossover/substitution use. It seems both style of fasteners have gotten a knee-jerk reaction in reasoning for failure modes until you see the real culprits of no installation requirements, production pressure and lack of inspection. Oh one other thing... all the gulf coast states seem not to have any building codes or inspections so everybody is looking for the culprit.

[Billy Bob]

Though I have far less experience than folks like PEG, I think I also prefer nails over staples.
Staples show up a lot in manufactured housing; probably a speed/cost consideration.
As Ryan noted, staples don't perform as well in resisting shearing forces.  It also seems that, if a joint loosens a bit for whatever reason, nails do a better job of keeping what's left together, IMHO.

[glenn kangiser]

Anybody else try a 1" crown stapler for nailing sheetrock?

Another contractor told me about it-- I don't know what issues there are but it works great.