A leak in my rental property caused damage to walls and floors. I hired a contractor to repair the damage. Is this deductible or does it need to be depreciated?

[austtam]

A pipe burst in the kitchen and caused damage in the wall, subfloor, and flooring.  The property manager hired a contractor to repair the drywall, subfloor, and replace the flooring. The original hardwood was replaced with tile.  Is this considered a deductible cost? Or is this an improvement that needs to be deducted? 

[Opus 17 · Accepted solution]

It sounds like a repair. Even though you did more than just patch the damage, changing the flooring because of damage is part of the repair.  

 An example of when it would be considered an improvement would be,  if the floor in the kitchen was damaged, but you took the opportunity to upgrade the flooring in the entire apartment. The flooring in the kitchen would be part of the repair but the flooring in the rest of the apartment would be an improvement to depreciate.