CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tire repair shops are seeing hundreds of flat tires caused by roofing nails and other construction debris as crews work to repair storm-damaged homes.

At a repair shop on Old Statesville Road, Service Manager Steve Hagler says roofing nails alone cause about 35 percent of the flat tires he’s fixed.

Other culprits include regular nails and screws.

“We get between four to five a day.  Some days we get up to about ten.   Especially after the storms, we were getting 10 to 15 a day,” Hagler said.

Hagler says the nails were meant for roofs to repair them from all of this summer’s storm damage.

Unfortunately, they’re ending up in the streets, too, and customers often share the same stories.

 “A lot of them come in and say…their roofing Bob Joe’s house down the road here, or they had to do mine last week, or I live in a neighborhood where they’re doing all the roofing,” Hagler said.  “So yeah, quite a few say the exact same thing.”

Hagler says a roofing company truck accidentally dumped a whole box of roofing nails and the shop had five cars with flat tires roll in within minutes of each other.

Hagler says they’ve even come across flat tires caused by much bigger pains than roofing nails.

“We’re getting pliers, screwdrivers, you name it,” he added.

A tire patch job costs about $36.  Nail holes can typically be filled without having to buy a brand new tire.