@oldvilla-yasmin
Restoring an older villa — timber staircase, doors, paintwork. Trying to refurbish rather than rip out where I can.
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Our Meadows villa is about 20 years old and the original aluminium windows and sliding doors are showing their age: - the seals are perished — draughts and dust get in; - the big…
We're slowly doing up an older apartment and the aluminium windows are the next headache. On a couple of them the handle just spins — it turns all the way round but nothing happen…
A leak from the bathroom/AC above came through and now a patch of our gypsum false ceiling is brown-stained and sagging slightly. A painter offered to just stain-block and repaint…
We're in a newer Dubai Hills villa and assumed plumbing wouldn't be an issue given the age, but a few things have shown up, a mixer dripping, pressure that varies, and I'm not sur…
I look after a couple of older apartments in Al Qusais and the plumbing is a recurring headache: the water pressure varies, there is obvious scaling on taps and the heater, and a…
Our villa in The Villa has several separate AC systems for different parts of the house, and it feels like there's always one playing up. With this many units, how do people actua…
We own an older independent villa in Al Warqa and it feels like there's always something with the AC or the general upkeep, and unlike an apartment there's no building maintenance…
We're likely to replace at least one AC unit before next summer and the quotes I'm getting are all over the place, which makes me think some are missing things others include. Rat…
Our Al Barsha villa has the original ducted central AC from when it was built, mid-2000s I think, and it's clearly getting on. It still works but I can feel it's not what it was,…
We keep getting white, powdery, crystalline patches on some painted masonry walls, and they come back after we wipe or repaint them. - What is this white bloom (is it efflorescenc…
We have some solid-wood furniture (a dining table, a cabinet) that's scratched, dull and water-marked. - Can wood furniture actually be refinished to look new again, and what does…
I want some curved gypsum details and a bulkhead to hide ducting and house lighting. - How are curved gypsum shapes and bulkheads actually formed — can plasterboard really bend in…
Our Jumeirah Islands villa is about 20 years old and the interior finish is really starting to show it. Every year it is more of the same three things: - Caulk lines splitting — t…
Our Meadows villa is around 20 years old and the water tanks (the roof one and the underground one) are the originals. We get them cleaned, but I'm starting to wonder: - Beyond cl…
Older villa, original electrics. I've noticed the distribution board (the fuse box) is making a faint buzzing/humming sound, and when I put my hand near it the cover feels a bit w…
The door to our spare bedroom (older villa) has slowly stopped latching — it swings shut but the latch doesn't click into the frame anymore, so it just rests closed and drifts ope…
We've just had some walls re-plastered and a ceiling gypsum-skimmed, and we're keen to paint and move on. But I've heard you can't just paint straight onto new plaster or it peels…
I want to get our villa's cooling properly ready before summer rather than discovering a problem when it's already 45 degrees. What should a pre-summer checklist cover for a Dubai…
Our LG split AC in an older villa flashed a 'CH' code on the indoor unit display and then the cooling dropped off. I can see the code but I've no idea how to read it, some people…
We're in one of the older Meadows villas and while everyone talks about the AC on these Emaar homes, I'm finding the plumbing is what actually keeps cropping up, a bit of pressure…
Every year I seem to end up calling someone about the AC in the worst possible week, usually mid-August when everything's breaking down at once and I'm waiting days for a slot whi…
We're renovating our villa but have to keep living in it during the work. - How do you actually manage a live-in renovation — phasing the work, controlling dust, keeping a usable…