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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To buy something just for a spare part ?

20 replies

mamatomany · 16/01/2011 18:42

I've saved my nursery furniture for 6 years and come to put the cotbed together and DH has lost the screws.
I called mamas and papas and they've said they no longer have the fixings as the cot is too old.
So there's a couple of these on ebay that match my furniture, they won't post the whole thing and are nowhere near me. Would it be terrible to win the auction and then just ask them to post the screws leaving them to dispose of the actual cotbed which is now useless ?
I hate waste, I have various bits and pieces scattered around my house just waiting for the day somebody says what I could really do with is a M&P moses basket hood in blue etc

OP posts:

CardyMow · 16/01/2011 18:48

AARRGGHH! Mamatomany! Believe it or not, my DP did exactly the same thing with my old mama's and papa's swinging crib. Which was 7 yrs old. They no longer had the fixings for that either. I tried on Ebaby but no-one had a mathing crib at the time, so I ended up having to buy a new one.

If I were you, I would see if the sellers would post you the screws, but I don't know if they would be willing to be left with the main pieces of the cotbed to dispose of. It can't hurt to try though.

CardyMow · 16/01/2011 18:49

Ebaby ?? Ebay.

imustbemadasaboxoffrogs · 16/01/2011 18:49

Can you not get screws that would work in B&Q or similar?

Original poster

mamatomany · 16/01/2011 18:51

imustbemadasaboxoffrogs - I was hoping somebody might say they'd done that and it worked, did you by any chance ?

loudlass - it happens a lot from the facebook response I had to my rantings.

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imustbemadasaboxoffrogs · 16/01/2011 18:53

I have in the past - well XH did, he measured how long the screws needed to be to go through the holes and wood if that makes sense?

We went to a local hardware store though, not B&Q

imustbemadasaboxoffrogs · 16/01/2011 18:54

You could ask someone on here to measure the length and size of screws you need and then go and get the right ones?

Changeisagoodthing · 16/01/2011 18:58

My brother got my cot bed and I couldn't find the screws. He got them from a hardware shop. When we moved house they turned up- typical!

CardyMow · 16/01/2011 21:38

What's with all these DP's/DH's 'misplacing' (Dp's words...) essential fixings for cots/ cribs?

thisisyesterday · 16/01/2011 21:40

you say you hate waste... but how will this help??
someone else will still have to chuck away a perfectly good cot! don't be so silly

i would be really quite angry if i was selling my cot and someone did that

go to homebase and see if you can find some new screws to fit it.

southeastastra · 16/01/2011 21:43

buy the whole lot, what makes you think the seller would want the item without the fixings

cece · 16/01/2011 21:43

Why don't you go into an old fashioned hardware store and buy the mssing screws from there. I can guarantee they will be able to find something that will do the job. At least my one does. They even did the repair on dd's scooter last time I went in (the screw had fallen off it)

Original poster

mamatomany · 16/01/2011 21:45

I'll have to buy the whole thing obviously but then ask them just to send me the screws.

OP posts:

Original poster

mamatomany · 16/01/2011 21:48

There's a few on ebay so i can try the DIY shop option first but the way Mamas and papas were talking about it, the manufactures all make different fittings and no another of their cots fittings wouldn't work, i'll be happily surprised if it's that easy.

OP posts:

blackeyedsusan · 16/01/2011 21:48

You never know what you will find to fit in a hardware store. our oven door is still held together by roofing bolts 6 years on. You need to know the diameter of the hole and length. make sure that the bits aren't sharp for little fingers though and next time, gaffer tape the fixings to the bottom of the cot when you pack it away.

MumNWLondon · 16/01/2011 21:49

I agree about the old fashioned hardware store, good chance they will be able to help.

DH always puts screws in an envelope and then uses masking tape to tape the envelope to the furniture.

thisisyesterday · 16/01/2011 21:55

yeah,. so then they will have to dump a perfectly good cot!

you don't want to do that, so why would they?

Original poster

mamatomany · 16/01/2011 22:00

Well on the basis that they are selling it i guess they don't want the cot anyway .... i on te other hand have 4 other matching pieces of furniture so am rather more attached to mine.
Surely once i've paid for it i can use it for fire wood if so inclined.

OP posts:

Original poster

mamatomany · 16/01/2011 22:01

But the purpose of the thread was to see if anyone had resolved this without wasting either cot so fingers crossed

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Changeisagoodthing · 16/01/2011 22:40

Do you have any of the fixings?

Are they gold bolts which go I to a sort of cap with a hexagon in the end- they tighten up and sink into the hole?

That's a really bad description.

Original poster

mamatomany · 16/01/2011 22:56

No none of them, I haven't a clue what they look like.
DH did put them in an envelope and instead of taping them to the actual cotbed he's filed them somewhere, so I've not given up completely on them turning up.
I'm going to ask M&P to send me some fittings from another cotbed and just try them.

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