Author: Stage

Are you wondering whether interior doors are subject to tax deductions according to the latest legal provisions? Let’s find out which benefits can derive from the replacement of this essential furniture item.

In general, the new provisions may be quite complex with regard to this topic: what appears to be obvious is that replacing or installing doors within existing residential buildings can give tax incentives just in particular cases.

Interior doors, in most situations, can only benefit from the 50% IRPEF tax deduction for building renovation works.

The 65% tax deduction is in fact only intended for energy saving purposes, that is to say, where, for example, installed doors border on unheated spaces and have specific thermal characteristics in compliance with the technical requirements required for the exterior doors, according to the Decree of 11 March 2008.

In the event that the aforementioned building renovations are already under way, repairs and replacements of the interior doors will be eligible for a 50% deduction only and exclusively in cases where the intervention takes place on the public areas of buildings and preserves materials, colours and dimensions of the doors.

It should be added that the deduction for interior doors at 50%, may be applicable even if the interior doors are installed within individual housing units following the enlargement of the doors or the opening of new door apertures to connect two rooms or two building units.

Replacing a traditional interior door with an armoured one is another of the cases providing for deductions.

Finally, with regard to the most common renovation works, for instance the “classic” replacement of interior doors within a house, the deduction is excluded: the Tax Revenue Agency is very clear on this matter, providing for the elimination a priori of this possibility.

In general, the criteria and specifications about the deduction for the interior doors are numerous, so each case should be individually analysed in every detail with the support of a professional.

In order to keep the interior doors in good condition and significantly increase their durability it is very important to clean them correctly. Interior doors are important furnishing elements and for this reason it is essential to clean them in the most appropriate way without damaging their surfaces in order to have functional and attractive doors.

First of all, interior doors should be regularly dusted with a delicate cloth so as to avoid unnecessary deposits of dust on their surfaces and in the corners which are most difficult to reach.

A deep cleaning should be carried out periodically in a very careful way: remember that keeping the aesthetics of the interior doors intact also contributes to prolonging their durability. A badly handled interior door is will have to be replaced sooner or later.

It is sufficient to comply with some ground rules to clean the interior doors: if the doors are in wood, the first thing to remember is to avoid cleaning them with too aggressive products. For instance, classical degreasing products do not perform any kind of protective action against wood and can also damage it.

In general, you should clean the interior doors using a simple 90% water solution and 10% alcohol. Then use a clean, soft, damp, but not soaked cloth to clean the surface and remove dust and dirt. Of course, a special attention should be paid to corners and slits to eliminate any residues. Finally, the whole surface should be wiped up with a dry cloth so as to avoid any moisture deposit.

If your interior doors are made of polished wood, you can use a specific furniture or virgin wax product, which will be rubbed well on the entire surface using a dry cloth.

Lacquered doors are generally cleaned with a slightly moistened shammy insisting on the most dirty areas. In the case of a metal door, such as the garage door, you can use a mixture of water and bicarbonate, with the addition of a drop of dishwashing detergent if there is a particularly obstinate dirt or oily dirt.

On the other hand, plastic interior doors will be washed with simple hot water and dishwashing detergent, followed by regular rinsing and drying. To polish them, you can use a glass cleaner taking care to spray the product on the cloth and not on the door. As for the interior doors hardware, it will be cleaned once a year. In this case it will be enough to intervene with a neutral detergent that will be rinsed. More over, remember that doors should always be washed from bottom to top and not otherwise!

And what about handles and locks? In addition to normal cleaning, they can be polished with a detergent for brass or steel on a soft cloth, depending on the material. However, it is essential to protect the surface of the door with a roll of paper tape so that it does not come into contact with detergents that may be too aggressive or even detrimental. Finally, be sure to clean the sliding doors that, in their own conformation, hide an unexposed part and will therefore require more attention and a periodic, accurate cleaning. The accumulation of dust and dirt in this type of door is mostly in the area of the bristles: to clean it use a dry cotton cloth, moving down gently.

When you build your own house or renovate it, the choice of interior doors is one of the most important in aesthetic and functional terms. Every solution should be examined carefully and never be left to chance because these architectural elements have an important function within the environment and represent one of the most influential design components in the general aesthetics of your home or office.

The first characteristic to be assessed, when you have to choose the interior doors, concerns the material. In the past there were exclusively wooden doors, nowadays there are various possibilities and each has its advantages and disadvantages as well as unique features.

Let us therefore look at some materials with which the interior doors are usually manufactured and their characteristics.

Interior wooden doors: a good interior wooden door is beautiful, functional and durable. It is evident that the quality of a wooden door depends essentially on materials (solid wood or veneered? Natural or plywood? Etc…). Even the frame of the door ensures higher quality and durability if made of solid wood and not with timber products, which may undergo alterations and deformations. An high quality interior wooden door is, of course, an element of style which provide exceptional durability and which stands out because of the material used enhanced by specific treatments and finishes. Moreover, it sets the scene as fine wood characterizes each house or office, giving class and elegance devoid of the fashion trends and essentially eternal.

Interior laminate doors: they can be the most economical and favourite choice among the products proposed in the standard supply contracts when building a new house. However, they aren’t always of poor quality and the latest technology have led to the creation of great value laminate doors, characterized by finishes and accessories of the latest generation.

These are the best solutions for those who want to combine accessibility and aesthetics, but also for lovers of modern and contemporary styles. More over, it should be mentioned that the evolution of the interior laminate doors led to the creation of products that, on an aesthetic level, are able to take the appearance of almost any material in an absolutely realistic way. From finishes with three-dimensional effect to high-quality metal details, from concealed hinges to coplanar solutions, also the interior laminate doors can now compete with the finest materials.

Interior glass doors: they can be very beautiful to see, but they must necessarily comply with the highest standards of safety, that is referred to the classification and the description of the glasses used in accordance with the provisions of European regulations. The tempered glass, for example, doesn’t cut but crumble into small harmless fragments in case of breakage of the product. The laminated glass, on the other hand, is composed of two sheets of glass glued onto a film called “PVB”. In this case, if the product breaks, glass will keep its fragments glued, avoiding to hurt people. Interior glass doors, which can be decorated with sandblasted finishes, pictures and special patterns, allow maximum light and environments get airy, open and bright. The impression is of utmost hospitality and never of an enclosed space, and the important aspect of privacy can still be respected.

If minimalism and modernity are the sine qua non in the choice of furnishings for your rooms, even the interior doors will necessarily have to pass the test.

In these cases, whether you are furnishing a newly created environment or renovating an apartment or an existing office, your decision will focus on minimalist and technologically advanced interior doors.

Whatever the choice, it will always be essential to carefully assess the available proposals, in terms of lines, materials, performance and technology. Remember in fact that interior doors, with their essential functions to separate and connect rooms, are an architectural and ornamental element of exceptional importance.

Among the various types of interior doors which are eligible candidates for minimalist environments there is the so-called door flush to wall, with invisible hinges and frames. It is an architectural element whose strength relies entirely on the concept of neutrality.

The interior door flush to wall is an invisible door: it merges with the environment and it blends into the wall surface in which it is inserted. It is flush to wall and, if offered with an exclusive finish, a decoration or a special coating, it is nearly a modern masterpiece.

Interior doors flush to wall: between design and formal rigour

In the past, all the interior doors of an environment were identical while nowadays new trends combine a higher concept of heterogeneity: the door flush to wall can therefore be the one and only in an environment, installed not only to connect rooms but also to represent a different piece of furniture in that context.

We could almost define the door flush to wall as the antithesis of the classic swing door: if in one everything seems to disappear, in the other every detail is visible and impossible to ignore, from the panel to the hinges. If in the swing door the division of the rooms is the main task, the door flush to wall has an absolute formal rigour and its task is a complete continuity of the surfaces.

Elegance and uniformity are therefore the essential elements of the doors flush to wall. You can choose them with the same colour shades of the walls or, alternatively, with different finishes and colours, even bright, without altering the incredible and innate ability to disappear from sight almost inherent in their nature. Varnishing, printing, finishing to put them in evidence can turn them into design elements, but their discretion, their formal rigour, will never be called into question.