I'm putting in a solid unfinished 3/4" x 4 1/4" floor with a full room border. Since the entire room is bordered, I have to do a lot of face nailing on the last row.

One thing I noticed is that if 4 1/4" wide strip is warped it's much more difficult to close any gaps than with 2 1/4" strip because the strips are much, much stiffer. Sometimes even when I can pry it into place and nail it every 6", even the nails won't keep the board tight. Gaps are small and I will be filling the floor but it is somewhat bothersome. I also think that the flooring may be low quality as a large number of the ends are not cut square.

Anyhow, on the borders even when I pry it closed and face nail with a finish nailer the gap re-opens. The finish nail does not have enough holding strength even over 1" ply subfloor.

I was thinking of using cut nails like these for more holding power when face nailing.

http://www.mazenails.com/catalog/catalog.pl?page=PAGE28&group=CUT1

Is this a good idea?

Should I predrill at all?

Thanks