You should check the manufacturer's specs for the type of nails they
recommend for their product. You may want to follow their instructions
to maintain the warranty. I've been looking into fiber-cement siding
and just bought a Porter Cable Coil 350 nailer. It shoots 1 1/2-3 1/2
nails. I'm planning on using 2" hot dipped galvanized ring shank nails.
I've looked at the Hardiplank and Certainteed products (check their
websites) and they recommend either hot dipped galvanized or stainless
steel nails. I'm not a pro but I believe most roofing nailers shoot
electro-galvanized nails. I went for the PC Coil nailer instead of a
conventional framing gun for a couple of reasons- 1) It offers me most
versatility because I can use this gun for framing, siding, fencing,
etc. and 2) I was worried that a conventional framing using plastic
strip collated nails might leave bits of plastic under the nail heads
when doing siding. The PC Coil nailer has an adjustable depth feature
to keep the nail heads flush with the siding and uses wire collated
coil nails. I haven't loaded it with nails yet but it is quite a beast
of a nail gun. I definitely wouldn't want to do siding with it for a
living. They do make dedicated siding nailers that might be a little
lighter and user friendly but again I opted for versatility. You also
may want to check on availability of nails for the particular gun that
you chose. At this point I'm planning on ordering nails from Tool Crib
(Amazon) as I haven't seen nails for the PC Coil nailer in my local
Borg or builder's supply store. Good luck with your project.

Dale

TP wrote:
I'm interested in doing fiber cement board siding. I only have
15 square, my own house. I thought a pneumatic nailer would keep
things consistent. Now I see there are roofing nailer and siding
nailers. The only difference I see is the length of nail roofing
goes 1 =BE siding will go to 3 inch. I would use the 1 =BE length...

Anyone know if the siding nailer performs better than a
roofing gun? I'm wondering also if there are special nails
needed for cement plank siding. Stainless, ring shank, etc.
=20
Thanks,
TP