Flat pack wardrobe hell

[FirstHouse]

So I’ve posted on here before, I’m not a hobby diy person I’m a keep the mrs happy diy’er. With that in mind please forgive my idiotic mistakes which I can now understand but didn’t at the time..

So we bought a three mirrored wardrobe, did ring round a few flat pack experts and they all wanted £200 for the job of putting it up, two of them saying they charge a lot because they take the full day as they’re a ball ache..

Bought the wardrobe when I was awaiting spinal surgery in March. The first comedy element was me being cocky and telling the delivery guys to leave it in the hallway thinking me and the mrs could get it upstairs.. wow that was hard work with a wife who isn’t the strongest or most logical and me with a messed up disc herniation.. eventually managed it.

Then we unpacked it and I wanted to do the usual flat pack thing of get everything organised, I’m a stickler for the instructions and being prepped.. that’s where we find all the fixings and hardware dumped in a bag… no instructions.. qr code on the side of the box had turned up damaged so couldn’t get them. Got in touch with the company and a few days letter got the instructions.. printed those instructions when I would have probably been better using my phone as you can zoom in as the printout was really difficult to make out what is what..

So off we pop to try and get it going, not sure whether the sheer pain or whether the annoyance of flat pack was preventing me doing it but we didn’t get very far at all, none of the screws lined up for the metal bars that would house the doors and two screws broke off in the wood.. it was at this point that I realised I wasn’t in a good place to do it.

Had my surgery in June. The wardrobe sat there in the bedroom till last week..

Cue to the next embarrassment… I wasn’t aware how to put these wardrobes together and didn’t know that it needed doing on the floor. These are the instructions (https://mnfurnitures.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/CHICAGO_MIAMI_VIKA_MANHATTAN-250.pdf) and for a complete novice I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s not clear.. we ended up doing half of it on the floor and then lifting it and doing the rest… I also didn’t know about making sure it’s square so that was a new one for me.

We had a problem moving it along the carpet and it felt like the front and back pieces of wood would snap so we ended up buying sliders for the corners… still wouldn’t shift.. we ended up putting smooth underlay we had left over under the wardrobe and finally we could move it!

Now…. Not knowing about squaring it meant the the thin boards at the back were square and not perfect, few pins missed the wood and came through the wardrobe ffs. The connectors for the two middle boards weren’t all there so that was an issue so we divvied them up best we can..

Got the wardrobe back, put the doors on and felt accomplished….

The doors had a gap in the upper left, after seeking advice I tried some make shift wood down one side.. hoorah the door was a nice snug fit.. oh maybe not, the other side now had the gap and was too far away from the wall to try the same…

Bit more faffing this evening and thought we’d nailed it but suddenly the doors are catching on the front bar tearing them up at the bottom, can’t understand why other than something I’ve done has changed the balance of the whole thing.

So now I haven’t got a clue what to do. We have sliders in each corner and the back still has some underlay under it which I’m guessing is contributing to the problem but without it under we weren’t able to move it.

Right now I’m feeling like throwing the 600 quid down the toilet and buying another and using my mistakes to get it right but that’s one hell of an expensive mistake. So any ideas between the ridicule would be massively welcomed.

Oh and I measured it…

Top left to bottom right (this was with wood in place) 3.28m. Top right to bottom left 3.32m.

I’ve attached some pictures for amusement and hopefully help.

 

[FirstHouse]

Oh and if it helps any… I was going round trying to retighten everything and the roof of the wardrobe has four locking nuts, the three to the left once I put the screwdriver in had a tiny gap between screwdriver and ceiling, the one on the right hand side had none and I could only tighten at an angle suggesting that the right hand side is either higher or my ceiling is lower… it is a Barrett new build after all

 

[big-all]

no expert but are the cams not supposed be under the top ??

off course this will be fully proved wrong iff there are any slots or dowel holes to line up the other way up

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

A few lessons to be learnt there, as you've found out but that's what learning is all about, have a look on youtube for some tips and tricks on building flat pack, like putting a small mark on the back where the rear dividers are so that you can make sure you're nails are gonna penetrate the dividers not thin air. I would also add that if you can't download the instructions beforehand then don't buy it so you can gauge what needs to be done/the quality, having it as one long unit is a flawed design IMO and destined to fail, those shelves absolutely will sag, the website doesn't even have an address, avoid this seller https://mnfurnitures.co.uk at all costs https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/mnfurnitures.co.uk

Still you are where you are, there are a few issues that come with a really big flat pack with sliding doors, the whole thing is massive of course and you need the space to build it and then the strength to hoick it up and shift it into position, the instructions mention getting it square and surely if it wasn't square the backs wouldn't have all aligned? The whole thing is cheap/poorly made, you rely on a completely level floor for those doors to slide properly etc and the thing will be ridiculously heavy so any adjustments will be very difficult, I might have been inclined to sit it on a 25mm thick slab of MDF or similar to give it a rigid/level base.

Those instructions aren't brilliant but look OK to me, say what you like about IKEA but the instructions are usually pretty clear, you can download/view them before you buy and they even tell you how heavy everything is and for something like that would have been three separate wardrobes bolted together and the backs would have gone into a rebate in the back rather than face fixed, much stronger overall and easier to build. Why didn't you unpack it downstairs and carry the individual parts upstairs? I think £200 is OK for assembly (it's about what IKEA charge too) but I'd pity whoever took that on.

I might be inclined to rebuild it myself and beef it up in the process. Or try and get a refund but going by the reviews I think you'll have little to no chance.

BTW in old houses the floors and walls are all over the place too.

 

[blup]

Just a tip for squareness, measure the diagonals, any difference will show how much the frame is out. Mirror doors add a lot of weight, so worth strengthening the rear panels to minimise racking. Fixing a length of wood diagonally is much more effective at eliminating racking, than adding vertical or horizontal struts.

Blup

 

[Koolpc]

If you dont like putting things together, not adept at DIY atc i am assuming you maybe didnt read the instructions correctly and got some of the parts mixed up!

Instruction look pretty normal to me.

 

[Diver Fred]

Others have given useful advice.
You need a spirit level to check the floor for level and the wall sides for upright.
Expect the floor to be both not level or completely flat. Use the plinth by its self to check for flat and level - the spirit level on the top edge of the plinth. Use wedges to level and flatten the plinth. You want the base to be flat or fall, very slightly, to the back. Once that is sorted fix the wedges, obtain some flat packers into additional spaces, particularly under any point that will have a vertical member pressing down on the plinth. If the plinth is separate to the box of the wardrobe the plinth as well down to the floor, use angle brackets and screws.
Now make sure the wardrobe box is square, both front and back if possible and then ease in place - may need 2 people. once in place use the spirit level to make sure the wardrobe base is level, correct if necessary and the sides upright.
You can use packers to get the sides upright if the base is level. pack at at least 3 points on each side. Screw through the sides into the wall.
Cover the gap at the sides with architrave or beading/scotia/quadrant depending on the gap size to cover.

For completeness I'd panel over the top to the ceiling.

Edit :- I've just looked at the instructions...
My thoughts. The plinth needs some additional cross members under the middle uprights - it would be better if it is completely separate to allow you to level it front and back.
I know what I'd do - have at least 4 cross members, at each end and under the middle uprights. Fix that centrally in the gap to the floor once levelled and flat. You won't be able to use the design fixings for the sides to the plinth, but once in place you can screw down through the floor of the wardrobe to the plinth.

 

[algas]

Had a similar problem, my daughter bought a mahooosive 3 mirror door wardrobe, she and I built it on her bedroom floor (hubby a civil engineer but doesnt know one end of a screwdriver to the other) good job the bedroom was large enough, I immediately saw that it was a poor design and as we were assembling it added extra brackets and supports, now lifting in place 300 yr old house floor not level so had to make wedges, but now A ok, when she moves its staying with the house, and had to move it on a strip of vinyl flooring as was digging into carpet.