Hello. I apologize in advance if this is redundant. I'm finally going to lay the 3/4" wood on 3/4" plywood subfloor that I've been planning for a while now. I'm renting the PowerNail 445 and using 16 guage 2" cleats (are the terms cleats and nails interchangeable?) . I'm considering buying a nail gun for top-nailing the starter (and ending) rows. I've read on this forum that a gun that shoots 15 guage will work better than 16 guage. Can anyone recommend a tool that can be used for the top-nailing and blind nailing of the starter rows and then be used later for installing trim, crown molding, etc.? And lastly, why kind of putty or filler do you pros use to hide the top-nail holes? I appreciate your help. Thanks...Guy

Nails or cleats usually mean the same. The guidelines say to use a 15ga. finish nailer for blind/face nailing solid flooring. But that can be a problem for installing qtr. round because it tends to split it. Lots of people use a 16 ga. as a compromise. I am not telling you to do that though.

On prefinished wood I mainly use Bruce, Minwax and Woodwise fillers.