Roofing Nails Left on the Driveway

Tear-off nails hide in grit and sealcoat, then find tires and feet. Sweep and use a magnet before you coat the driveway or park on it again.

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Where the nails go

A roof tear-off drops nails and staples that bounce, roll downhill, and stand on their heads in cracks and in the gutter edge of the driveway. They are hard to see on black pavement and easy to see in a tire. A sealcoat applied over them locks some flat and hides the rest until the film wears. Do not sealcoat as a cleanup method. Do not blow the driveway with a leaf blower and send the nails into the lawn, where a mower finds them next. The cleanup is a sweep of the granules and a magnet pass in more than one direction, including the expansion joint at the garage and the gravel shoulder. Walk it in good light. A roller magnet or a magnetic sweeper covers more ground than a handheld pickup, and you still need a hand pass along the edges.

Tires, feet, and the paving

Check tires before you roll the car into the garage and drag a nail across fresh sealer or into the house. A nail standing in a crack can also keep the crack from sealing properly later. If a nail has been driven into the asphalt by a tire, pull it. The small hole is not a pothole. It does not need a bag of cold patch, which would be a temporary mound for no reason. If the tear-off also left a pile of granules, those act like ball bearings until they are swept. They are not a sign that the asphalt is raveling, unless the driveway itself is losing stone in areas the roofers never walked. Photograph unusual gouges from dropped tools so they are not blamed on the paving. A measuring wheel is useless for nail pickup. Use your eyes and a magnet.

Timing it with other driveway work

Do nail pickup before crack filling and before any sealcoat, and again after the dumpster leaves, because the container drop shakes another handful onto the mat. If the roofers used plywood to protect the driveway, look under the sheet path too. A dumpster that dented the asphalt is a separate load problem. Fill a true rut if it holds water, using a squared patch, not a nail hole's worth of sealer. Hot-mix tons only enter the conversation if the protection failed and a real area must be replaced. In that case use AsphaltTons.com for the area and thickness, confirm density with the plant around the usual 140 to 150 pounds per cubic foot, and accept the day's quote. Most nail cleanups are labor, not tons. Tell the roofing contractor the driveway has to be magnet-swept before they finish, and look yourself before you pay.

A practical sequence

Sweep granules and run a magnet across the drive, edges, and garage joint.
Repeat after the dumpster and plywood are gone.
Pull any nails already pressed into the mat and check car tires.
Sealcoat or crack-fill only after another magnet pass in daylight.

The mistake to skip

Sealcoating over a tear-off so the remaining nails are glued down and hidden.

Questions people ask

Is one magnet pass enough?

Usually not. Nails lie flat, stand up, and hide in cracks. Sweep and cross the driveway in more than one direction.

Will a nail hole let water destroy the driveway?

A pinhole is trivial next to open cracks and bad drainage. Remove the nail so it does not reach a tire, and do not build a patch mound on it.

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