Clout Nail – Aluminium

The aluminium clout nail is a staple fixing for anyone working on roofing and cladding jobs. With a large diameter head and a shank sized to grip without splitting, the clout nail is the go-to choice for securing roofing felt, slate, shingles, and other lightweight sheet materials where a standard wire nail simply would not hold. Being aluminium, these nails will not rust, stain, or corrode when exposed to moisture and weather — which matters on a roof where you cannot easily go back and fix things later.

These are available in a range of sizes from 30 x 2.65mm up to 65 x 3.35mm, covering the typical spread of fixing requirements across different felt thicknesses, slate gauges, and substrate depths. Whether you are tacking lightweight underfelt on a garden shed or fixing heavier slates on a residential property, there is a size here that fits the job correctly rather than just approximately.

Where Aluminium Clout Nails Are Used

The large head does the work that matters most: it spreads the load across the surface of the felt or material being fixed, preventing tear-through at the fixing point. A standard nail head simply sinks into felt under wind uplift; the clout head stays put. On slate, the larger head seats cleanly around the pre-drilled hole without cracking the slate edge, which is exactly what you want when the alternative is a cracked slate at ten metres up.

Pack options include TIMbag, TIMtub, and full cartons, in 1kg and 10kg weights. For regular roofing trades, the 10kg carton makes the most sense on cost per nail and reduces the number of trips to the van. If you are a joiner doing the odd outbuilding or flat roof repair, the 1kg option keeps things manageable without wastage. The TIMtub format is a decent middle ground — robust enough to live in a toolbox and take a knock without the nails going everywhere (anyone who has split a bag of clout nails on scaffolding will appreciate this more than most).

Because aluminium is a softer metal than steel, these clout nails drive cleanly without the bounce-back you sometimes get from hardened fixings. That said, they do require accurate driving — a glancing blow with a hammer is more likely to bend an aluminium shank than a steel one. Straight, firm strikes are the way to go.