Home Imrovement vs Repair/ or Deduction

[legomom922]

I think I'm getting hung up on th erules or the definitions on what makes something a repair or maintainence vs a home improvement.. What are the rules of thumb? Like lets use my closet doors for an example. We took all the old ones out and put new ones in. Now I'm thinking its a 'improvement" because they are a part of the house and stay with the house, and since they are new and more modern, they would increase the value vs the old ugly ones but I know they could also be considered a repair, since we replaced them. So which is it and would they be depriciated if the cost of all the closet doors cost over $100?

[TomCopeland]

Replace closet doors make it seem more like an improvement than a repair. Fixing the doors would be a repair. The general rule is that if something increase the value of the home it's an improvement. If it maintains the value of the home it's a repair. These are not strict rules and there is a lot of uncertainty in the law.