Why does Greenwood Village require 6 nails per shingle?

The city designs roofs for a 100 mph 3-second gust with Exposure C, meaning open terrain. More fasteners shorten the unfastened spans where wind uplift concentrates, so shingles flutter less and crease less. Two extra nails per shingle costs almost nothing and is the cheapest wind protection on the whole roof.

What does wind damage from bad nailing look like?

Creased or folded tabs running in neat rows, shingles peeled back from rakes and eaves, or whole shingles missing while the neighbors' roofs held. Damage in a repeating pattern points at fastening, not the material. A single torn shingle here and there is more likely debris impact or age.

How can I check that my roofer used 6 nails per shingle?

Ask directly, before the job, how many nails per shingle and where they land; a good foreman answers without hesitating. Require in-progress photos of the nailing. On a finished roof, an inspector can lift tabs and count. Our jobs include photo documentation, so the count is on record.

High-Wind Shingle Fastening Rules in Greenwood Village

Roofer fastening asphalt shingles to the 6-nail high-wind standard in Greenwood Village

Wind is the quiet design problem in Greenwood Village. Hail gets the headlines, but the building code here plans for 100 mph gusts, and the way your shingles are nailed decides whether they stay put when one arrives. Most of the wind-torn shingle roofs we inspect did not fail because of the shingle. They failed at the nails, years before the storm, on the day the roof was installed.

Greenwood Village Wind Design: 100 mph Gusts and Exposure C

The city's Roofing Guidelines set the design criteria: a 100 mph 3-second gust, with Exposure C terrain assumptions. Exposure C means open ground, and between the large estate lots, the semi-rural acreage west of I-25 and the open edges of the DTC corridor, wind reaches many roofs here with little in the way to slow it down. Design wind is not a forecast. It is the load the finished roof must be built to resist, and for an asphalt shingle roof, resisting it comes down to fastening, edge metal and a few details that cost almost nothing to do right. The July 2026 revision spells the wind criteria out with the rest of the design requirements, so there is no ambiguity for a crew to hide behind.

The 6 Nails Per Shingle Rule

Greenwood Village requires a minimum of 6 fasteners per shingle. The default many crews learned in other jurisdictions is 4. Two extra nails per shingle sounds trivial, and on the invoice it nearly is: a few more boxes of nails and a slightly slower pace across the roof. Against a 100 mph gust it is the cheapest wind insurance there is. Uplift on a shingle concentrates in the unfastened spans between nails. More nails means shorter spans, less flutter, and no crease line forming where the shingle flexes. Most high-wind installation specs from shingle makers call for 6 nails too, so the city is aligned with the product engineering, not fighting it.

Nail Placement Matters as Much as Nail Count

Six nails in the wrong place hold worse than four in the right one. Every shingle has a nailing line, and a nail driven on it catches both that shingle and the top edge of the course below, doubling its grip. High-nailing, driving above the line, misses the lower course entirely and is the classic production-crew shortcut. Overdriven guns are the other one: compressor set too hot, nail head punching through the mat, holding power gone. Both mistakes are invisible from the street on the day the roof is finished and obvious the first time a 60 mph gust rolls through.

Drip Edge, Starter Courses and the Edges Wind Attacks First

Wind does not lift a roof from the middle. It peels from the edges, where pressure spikes as gusts accelerate over the eaves, rakes and ridge. That is why the code requires metal drip edge at both eaves and rakes: it anchors the perimeter and keeps wind from getting a finger under the first course. Starter strips with the adhesive band set at the roof edge do the same job for the field shingles above them. A crew that reuses tired old drip edge or skips starter courses has left the roof's front line of defense off, no matter how good the field nailing is.

What Bad Fastening Looks Like, and How to Verify Your Crew

Wind damage from bad fastening has a signature: creased tabs running in tidy rows, peel-back starting at a rake, entire shingles gone while every neighbor's roof held. If a moderate gust event leaves that pattern, the nailing is suspect, not the weather. Verification is easier than most homeowners think. Ask the crew how many nails per shingle and where; the city's requirement is in writing in our guidelines explainer if anyone argues. On our jobs, tear-off and in-progress photos document the nailing on every plane. Fastening also decides warranty outcomes, since a shingle maker can deny a wind claim over nailing errors, which is one more reason the photos matter.

Had wind through recently, or doubts about a past install? Get a free documented inspection with photos of exactly what we find. Call (720) 702-8770, contact us, or start with roof repair.

Shingle fastening questions Greenwood Village homeowners ask

Why does Greenwood Village require 6 nails per shingle? The city designs roofs for a 100 mph 3-second gust with Exposure C, meaning open terrain. More fasteners shorten the unfastened spans where wind uplift concentrates, so shingles flutter less and crease less. Two extra nails per shingle costs almost nothing and is the cheapest wind protection on the whole roof.
What does wind damage from bad nailing look like? Creased or folded tabs running in neat rows, shingles peeled back from rakes and eaves, or whole shingles missing while the neighbors' roofs held. Damage in a repeating pattern points at fastening, not the material. A single torn shingle here and there is more likely debris impact or age.
How can I check that my roofer used 6 nails per shingle? Ask directly, before the job, how many nails per shingle and where they land; a good foreman answers without hesitating. Require in-progress photos of the nailing. On a finished roof, an inspector can lift tabs and count. Our jobs include photo documentation, so the count is on record.