It’s pretty common to have to nail a shingle below an existing shingle or a piece of flashing. This occurs, for example, when replacing a shingle, roofing under existing flashing, or retrofitting a vent boot. The usual approach is to lift the upper shingle or flashing enough to make room to hammer in a nail. The trouble is that lifting can bend flashing or break the upper shingle.
The Roof Snake (pactool.us) solves this problem by holding the roofing nail in a pair of slots, one horizontal for the nail head and one vertical for the nail shank. You have to lift the upper shingle or flashing only as high as the length of the roofing nail, and then slip under the Roof Snake with the nail. A couple of whacks with a hammer on the exposed portion of the Roof Snake sets the nail most of the way. Pull the Snake’s slots off the nail, and then place the tool’s end over the nailhead. One more hammer blow sets the nail flush with the shingle. If you do any roofing, you need this $25 tool.
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