Board Stupid

Before I start, board in the title isn’t a spelling mistake of bored, it’s a deliberate nod to my latest attempt at DIY!

Simple DIY

I quite enjoy having a go at pretty simple jobs around the house, you know the ones, fitting a new towel rail in the bathroom or changing a tap washer. I even managed to repair the shower a few weeks ago, which must have given me the confidence to attempt a far more difficult job than I had ever dared attempt before. The job involved was removing 3 lengths of plasterboard, replace the insulation behind and cover with new plasterboard. Simples?

What’s Needed?

Although someone skilled in plastering would be needed to finalise the job, my thinking was that if I could do all the work prior to plastering, then I would save quite a bit of money. Pat on the back time for me!! Now that the building stores are open again, all I needed to do was remove the old plasterboard and insulation and measure up for the new stuff and we could collect. To be honest, it was really straightforward and I was pleased there was very little mess. I even ordered the items needed online, ready for collection.

Measuring Up

I’m not one of these people that can work out the best size boards for the job, you know how some workmen can say, “…you need one piece of plasterboard, 18-foot x 3 foot and we can cut everything we need from it.” I measure up and see that I need 4 x 8-foot x 2-foot boards! That’s the way I do it. So, roof rack attached to the car and off we go to the local builders’ yard. Fortunately, it wasn’t too busy and they had everything I needed. The four plasterboards have to be loaded, one at a time, onto the roof rack, while the insulation, nails etc all go in the back of the car.

All Secure

I had no rope to secure the board to the roof rack, but I have those ‘Bungy’ elastic things with the hooks either end. The amount I have I was able to secure the board safely and we were soon on our way on the four-mile journey home. Keeping to 20 MPH all the way, there was no traffic and only one car passed us coming the other way. Although the roads are winding, there was hardly any wind and in fact, was a beautiful summers day. Arriving home, I jumped out of the car and shock horror!!! All that was left of the plasterboard was the pieces you can see in the main photograph!

Disappointed

Needless to say, I was very disappointed, or words to that effect. At first, my initial reaction was to burst out laughing, but the realisation kicked in of how stupid I had been and how daft I must look. My wife hadn’t even noticed, she just went to the back of the car and picked up the nails and some of the insulation and made her way into the house. How on earth do I tell her without bursting out laughing, plus the fact I’ve just lost about £75! I managed to compose myself and explain what had just happened. She agreed with one thing, that I’d been very stupid. There’s no way of going back to the builders’ yard and replacing the boards because the same thing is bound to happen again.

Leave It To The Experts

The only thing I could do is bite the bullet and call a professional in to do the job properly. I won’t mention that I did buy some boards, I’ll just say I’ve removed the old ones in the hope that we can save money. Oh well, it’s all gone a little Monty Python and this DIY job has turned into an expensive fiasco. Onwards and upwards as they say.

If you want to know how to DIY, this link might help you.