Best Roofing Nailers for DIY Reroofs (2026)

What to look for in a roofing nailer

A roofing nailer drives the same nail thousands of times, often on a slope, so the specs that matter are how it is powered, how it fires, what it weighs and what it feeds:

• Air or battery. Four of these picks are pneumatic and need a compressor and hose: DEWALT, Metabo HPT and SENCO list 70–120 psi, and the MAX manual recommends 70 to 100 psi with a 120 psi maximum. The two cordless picks carry their power with them and list 500 nails per charge.
• A sequential trigger. OSHA says the risk of a nail gun injury is twice as high with a multi-shot contact trigger as with a single-shot sequential trigger. The DEWALT DW46RN comes with both, the Metabo HPT NV1845DA switches between bump and sequential modes, and Metabo HPT sells a sequential trip for the NV45AB2.
• Weight. Published weights run from 5.2 lb to 8.6 lb; the cordless tools are the heavy end, before you add a battery to the Metabo HPT.
• Nail length and coil angle. IKO's nailing instructions call for nails “long enough to penetrate through plywood or 3/4" into boards.” All six picks take coil nails up to 1-3/4 in. DEWALT, SENCO and MAX list 15° coils and Metabo HPT 16°, so buy the coil your nailer lists.
• Depth adjustment. IKO wants each nail driven so the head is “flush with, but not cutting into, shingle surface.” Every pick has a depth adjustment; set it on the first course and check the heads.
• Magazine. All six hold 120 nails, which is 2 loads per square at 4 nails per shingle.

How many nails a reroof takes

The roofing calculator's default house is 40 × 30 ft with a 1 ft overhang and a 6/12 pitch (see how to measure roof pitch). With a 10% allowance and IKO Cambridge's 33.3 sq ft per bundle, it needs 16.53 squares of shingles, or 50 bundles. IKO lists 20 Cambridge shingles per bundle and 60 per square, and its data sheet calls for 4 nails per shingle in a standard application and 6 on steep slopes or in high-wind areas (the architectural vs. 3-tab shingles guide compares other shingle lines).

Shingles        = 50 bundles × 20 = 1,000
Nails           = 1,000 × 4 = 4,000   (× 6 = 6,000)
Per square      = 60 × 4 = 240   (× 6 = 360)
Magazine loads  = 4,000 ÷ 120 = 33.33 → 34   (6,000 ÷ 120 = 50)
Battery charges = 4,000 ÷ 500 = 8   (6,000 ÷ 500 = 12)
One charge      = 500 ÷ 240 = 2.08 squares   (÷ 360 = 1.39)

4,000 or 6,000 nails ÷ 120 per magazine load, and ÷ 500 per battery charge, rounded up. Starter strips and ridge caps take nails of their own on top of these.

Pneumatic or cordless?

For a whole reroof, an air nailer is the practical tool. A compressor keeps it firing for as long as the job runs, and reloading is just another 120-nail coil. Check that your compressor covers the nailer's operating pressure; SENCO lists its air consumption at 3.86 SCFM, which you can compare with a compressor's rated output. Run a hose long enough to reach the ridge, so you are not dragging the compressor around.

The cordless picks trade the hose for a battery. DEWALT calls the DCN45RNB “ideal for service repairs and small jobs,” and Metabo HPT pitches the NV1845DA at “roof repairs and smaller roofing jobs (like ridge caps, eves, gables).” At 500 nails per charge the example roof takes 8 charges, so they suit repairs and small roofs of a square or two per charge.

The underlayment goes down before the shingles and takes a different fastener: IKO's synthetic underlayment calls for nails or staples with 1 in plastic or metal caps (see roof underlayment basics). A coil roofing nailer drives the shingle nails. For the other tools on a roofing job, see the top tool picks for roofing.