What’s the easiest way to de-nail battens?

[Great_scot_selfbuild]

The horizontal battens have been installed for our shingle cladding at the wrong spacing. After much soul-searching, I am seriously looking at removing, de-nailing (if that’s a word), and then re-fitting at the correct spacing.

 

Grateful for any tips.

[JohnMo]

Depending on batten sizing and if ring groove nails used - you may do more harm than good. Could you simply add more battens? It may be faster, less stressful and less rework.

[Russell griffiths]

You can get an air driven de nailer

you need a compressor, it punches the nail back through in one quick motion. 

[saveasteading]

39 minutes ago, Great_scot_selfbuild said:

removing, de-nailing (if that’s a word), and then re-fitting

Might it be easier to drive the nails right through and leave them there? (With a punch?) Battens aren't strong timber and I'd expect a lot of damage if prising them off.

 

I'm all for saving the material . I recall a tool my dad had which was for this purpose*...  about 3" long with a square head and then a taper to a round end for the nail contact.

* I doubt he ever put a nail in wrong, but  neither did any timber get thrown if it could be repurposed.

 

BUT if anyone knows better than me then listen to them... I've never done roof battens.

 

[Nickfromwales]

46 minutes ago, Great_scot_selfbuild said:

The horizontal battens have been installed for our shingle cladding at the wrong spacing. After much soul-searching, I am seriously looking at removing, de-nailing (if that’s a word), and then re-fitting at the correct spacing.

 

Grateful for any tips.

Who fitted them incorrectly? Get them to do it!?

[Onoff]

Fire?

[Great_scot_selfbuild]

1 hour ago, JohnMo said:

Depending on batten sizing and if ring groove nails used - you may do more harm than good. Could you simply add more battens? It may be faster, less stressful and less rework.

Have considered this, and even did the maths to work out the most efficient spacing, but it's all a compromise somewhere. That will incur cost as well as time (not just the install time, but it means the exact height of the shingle fixing will vary from row to row, so the measuring and checking each time has a greater likelihood of being messed up.

[Great_scot_selfbuild]

44 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

Who fitted them incorrectly? Get them to do it!?

Easy to say, less easy to implement, especially if I want to maintain a working relationship for the other bit that I can't do myself.

[Great_scot_selfbuild]

26 minutes ago, Onoff said:

Fire?

Hmmm... I'm looking to re-use the wood rather than the nails though 🤣

[Nickfromwales]

2 minutes ago, Great_scot_selfbuild said:

Easy to say, less easy to implement, especially if I want to maintain a working relationship for the other bit that I can't do myself.

The tail doesn’t wag the dog though 🙃. 

[Great_scot_selfbuild]

12 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

The tail doesn’t wag the dog though 🙃. 

No, but choosing which battles to fight is a skill. Everything about self-build is a marathon rather than a sprint I'm finding. In the scheme of things, this is a small issue tbh. There are plenty of other aspects that wind me up far more! 

[JohnMo]

1 hour ago, Great_scot_selfbuild said:

de-nailing

There are specifically tools for the job. This basically a slide hammer and pincers in one.

 

https://amzn.eu/d/0jgJMtLC

[Mr Punter]

Another vote for adding more battens.  Just remove any that really mess up your gauge.   The extra battens will strengthen the roof a bit.  Could you get different shingles to work?