DIY Dilemma’s

Nothing is ever easy is it? I was getting on well with the laminate flooring project that I’d undertaken during lockdown. Everything had gone well and it was looking good. We’d bought an extra box of laminate just in case I cut any bits wrongly and Anna had ordered more than enough of the scotia edging too. As it happened, I didn’t need any of the extra bits but we did hit a snag when we discovered that the company we had ordered from had only sent us 4 lengths of scotia, not the 8 we had ordered.

As it turned out we were only a small amount short so only really needed one more length but emailed them to tell them that they had only sent 4 not 8. They apologised and popped another 4 pieces in the post for us. We could have told them we only needed one more and asked for a refund for the other 3 but we thought if we told them that they would have assumed we hadn’t ordered enough and were just trying to get one more piece for free so we stuck with the original order and waited for the four remaining pieces to arrive.

I literally only had three more pieces to cut to finish it off and probably needed less than two metres of the scotia to complete the project. However, all that I had left was this tiny little piece and even I couldn’t make it stretch far enough.

The remaining four pieces soon arrived so I was keen to get it finished. However, before I started I noticed that they were a different colour. It wasn’t a massive difference but when fitted next to each other it would have been obvious that they didn’t match. Both matched the flooring itself OK though.

We soon realised what must have happened. Presumably the four pieces I had already cut into lots of intricate lengths and had fitted around the edge of the hall were actually part of somebody else’s order and no doubt they had our eight pieces. I assume that finding they had twice what they had ordered they didn’t bother contacting the flooring company to let them know about the error. The colour difference is only subtle so they wouldn’t have thought it was the wrong type.

The latest four lengths to arrive were a slightly better match to our flooring so these were probably the type we should have had eight of in the first place. However, I had already spent ages cutting and attaching the pieces we did originally get and we still didn’t have enough of any one colour so we contacted the flooring company again to see if they could send four of the original colour. Trouble is, they don’t know what that was as we were never supposed to have it in the first place. So now we have two options.

1. Try to work out what colour the original pieces we were sent were and get more of those. This would be the best as the match with the flooring is good enough and I already have most of it fitted. It wouldn’t take long to finish off if we can get more of this. We’ve asked the flooring company if we can send them the small piece we have remaining so that they can colour match it with their stock and send us the matching scotia. Failing that we have asked if they can send samples of their stock so that we can try to match it ourselves.
2. The only other option is to ask them to send another 4 lengths of the latest ones they have sent so that we have eight of them in total. This would mean ripping out all of the scotia that I have already fitted and starting all over again with it. Not ideal but it might end up being our only option.

Why is nothing ever easy?

Tags: DIY