To think I have let down every woman everywhere?

[ImOnMyTumbleTap]

I have disappointed myself in being completely unable to put a fucking, bullshit, crappy bookcase together. It just will not work!

My DP offered to help me with it but I told him I was perfectly capable of putting together a book case, thank you very much. Now I have to go crawling back and say I can't. Gah!

The only way to fix this mess you have made for women everywhere is to storm into work and demand a pay rise.

Off you go.

I have neither Vaseline (being allergic to the stuff) nor a candle. Or an electric screw driver, that would make it quicker but ho hum!

Huzzah!! Yep, they should bite into the wood and it can be a pain with only a manual screw driver.

Do those screws then come back and tell us the next bit

That said, that's not actually the bit you were originally doing, is it?

I must admit I get really peed off with the "I'm a woman I can't do this". I get this a lot at work as I work in broadband tech support...."I'm a woman I don't understand this stuff" I usually point out that so am I (I can sort of understand a woman saying it to a man but to say it to another woman ??)

Flat pack furniture however is the spawn of the devil and unsuited to the female brain as it is designed for the very different male brain 😀

I did not know about the vaseline/candle/crayon trick! This is one of the reasons I love MN.
And well done OP ! You'll have it done in no time now you've broken the jinx.

No, it's not the same piece but as many have pointed out, that piece was cosmetic and can therefore bugger off!

fair play. That will likely be the biggest pain in the arse bit anyway. You'll fly through it now.

Well done OP - you can do it!

It's splitting!!!

Three screws not in properly and its splitting on two sides, but it's better than nothing.

Do you have the right size of screwdriver and head? Because if you don't, your hands will blister and hurt before you get this together! You need one of the ones with a large, rubbery handle as this gives you more turning power. You should then be able to drive in a screw in a matter of a few seconds.

ALSO - check when the back needs to be put on. On some models, it slots into a pre-cut slot before you complete the frame - I think Ikeas are like this. In others, you nail it to the chipboard around the edges - Argos tend to work this way if I remember rightly!

I think the back board goes on later. (It's an Argos bookcase)

The splitting of the chipboard (not MDF) is weird and wrong. I wonder if they have either supplied the wrong screws, or - more likely - whether there ought to be pilot holes drilled in the sides of the board that are missing.

(In either case, you are doing great and it's not your fault!)

There weren't pilot holes but I didn't really think anything of it. Is that why it's splitting?

I think it might be!

Chipboard tends to split when you shove sharp things into it. I guess it's kind of like a compressed wood sandwich and large pieces can separate out causing a split. Having a pilot hole stops this happening. (Ikea have a clever system where there are bolts and round nuts and one slots into the other).

If the splits are fairly small, it'll still work as a bookcase. Horizontally, hopefully the weight of the books will press the separated parts back together. It's just annoying for you. But not your fault! Bad design or a fault non-drilled piece from Argos.

Flat pack furniture however is the spawn of the devil and unsuited to the female brain as it is designed for the very different male brain

I'm hoping thats a joke?

Unfortunately it's the top panel so the weight won't push it back together.

OP where are you? did it work despite the splits? if not, have you contacted Argos?

I put three of those together the other day. There definitely should be pilot holes, and you were using the right screw for the kick board but the wrong side. Turn it over and there should be pilot holes on the other side.

No, you have't let us down. I salute you for having a go AND being sensible enough to try and follow the instructions (which were no doubt ridiculous).

The first page of the instructions is usually two people looking happy versus one person looking sad with a line through him, don't feel bad!

Aha! So there should have been pilot holes. I thought as much! Thanks for confirming toria.

I have put up a LOT of bookcases in my time, and I have found that many, many of them have this problem of missing pieces or missing holes. Oddly, I haven't had the same issues with larger and more complex bits of flatpack! Argos are the worst, but I'm still looking for a small dowel for an Ikea bookcase door!