• Manufactured by National Nail Corp.
• 800-968-6245; www.nationalnail.com
• Cost: about $50

Best practices and most manufacturers’ instructions recommend that cap nails or staples be used to fasten housewrap to walls and underlayment to roofs. The large surface area of each cap provides more holding power than nails or staples alone, and caps help sheet materials to resist tear-through during windy conditions and pull-through when you’re walking on a roof surface.

I gave up hand-driving cap nails and tin caps when pneumatic cap nailers and cap staplers came on the scene a few years ago. Being tethered to a pneumatic hose is limiting, so I knew cap-stapling had entered the next level when I saw the Stinger CH38.

The Stinger is similar to common hammer-tacker staplers, but with the addition of a plastic-cap delivery system. Squeeze your finger to advance a cap from the collation coil, and snap your wrist to drive it home with a staple. Using the tool requires a sort of rhythm, but I’ve seen people get the knack after the first 10 caps.

Freedom from a hose, light weight, and easy operation make this tool a must-have for anyone who installs housewrap or roofing underlayment. And even though many housewrap manufacturers now frown on the use of traditional hammer-tackers because their metal noses tend to tear the thin material as it’s fastened in place, the plastic caps on the Stinger dampen the blow enough that tearing is not a worry. As for durability, I’ve been using the tool for more than three months and have driven well over 1000 caps with no problems.

Replacement caps come in $30 StaplePacs, which include 12 rolls of 168 caps and 24 strips of 3/8-in.-leg chisel-point staples (one roll of caps uses two strips of staples). My only complaint is that the chisel-point staples included in these packs aren’t sharp enough to drive into really dense sheathing. Instead, I supply my own 3/8-in.-crown by 3/8-in.-leg sawtooth-point staples for much better performance.

Photos by Krysta Doerfler

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