Mr Bodge Man and the Laminate Flooring (somehow he did it)!

I never would have thought pre lockdown that we’d have a whole room (and a cupboard as it goes) laid with laminate flooring by my own husband’s DIY adverse hands! I am however happy to have been surprised. VERY! As Jonny has surpassed any other DIY job with the flooring he’s managed to lay in our house during this lockdown period (surpassing only terrible jobs isn’t hard but really, this time he has excelled!) and we now have a music room (and cupboard, don’t forget the cupboard) with brilliant floors. Phew, what a relief!

But let me start at the beginning! A long time ago, after we bought our first flat taking that tentative step onto the rungs of the property ladder, Jonny bought himself the Readers Digest big book of DIY. Prior to that we’d been living in rented accommodation which was rather swish with a 24 hour concierge / handy man service and whenever anything went wrong, as it does from time to time when you rent (ALL the time when you own),  we called them to help. New flat = new beginnings though and new “gonna cost a lot of money if we have to pay for this sort of stuff so Jonny, you’re gonna have to learn” was the prompt for the book purchase! But despite the book,he was NOT great at it… Not great at all! Any job he tried his hand at turned into a DIY disaster…

“Mr Bodge Man”, the name we gave him, became the running joke of anything he’s ever attempted in the DIY genre ever since and over the years there’s been many opportunities to use it! We’ve had holes in the wall (lots) which have had to be filled, done again and then filled one more time before calling Jonny’s Dad to come and make good. Would you believe. Mr Bodge Man doesn’t even do the making good well, he has frequently painted over a bodge with the wrong colour paint hoping that no one (me) will notice!

Then when we first moved into our house in Norfolk, a step up from the flat we left behind with a load of bodged DIY jobs for someone else to sort out, the first job we found was a leaking shower. I asked him to get a plumber… I really did but… Yep, Mr Bodge Man came out to play (of course) and by the time we actually DID call a plumber the job was twice as big and way more expensive (a whole new shower would you believe)! 

So… When lockdown came and Jonny announced that he was going to use the time lay some laminate flooring and decorate some of our rooms I was rather skeptical… Really?! REALLY?! Ok, so the time needed filling, I got that, and we did have all these jobs which needed doing so ok… Ok… I relented and let him have a go!

Of course within days there were new badly filled holes in the wall with the intended shelf discarded alongside a mirror to sit redundant until my Father in law can come over and make it work. But the flooring he was still certain of, still adamant he was going to do it despite all other indicators suggesting we should wait for a pro! I didn’t want to throw shade over his enthusiasm though so I grimaced and gulped and watched and he set about with tools he’d never even looked at before!

NOw I don’t know what happened but he did it. The fluke of all flukes or maybe laminate flooring is just a really easy job… Either way we have a whole music room (and that cupboard) with new glorious floors and I couldn’t be happier to eat my words! Now it’s one job, one… We don’t want to run before we’ve properly had a walk on that new floor but I for one am impressed with this turning of the tide. And relieved. And proud of him! Phew… Can you Adam and Eve it?!

The Readers Digest Big Book Of DIY is still on the shelf and i’m still going to encourage him to consult it before any more holes go in the wall but for now I can safely say that Jonny can lay flooring. Hasn’t Mr Bodge Man done well!

Flooring365.co.uk have a fab range of laminate flooring to choose from and have a 7 day a week telephone number for any questions you may have as well as operting warehouses in 8 UK locations. They’re definitely worth a look!

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