How much is the façade of a building worth , even the smallest one? Gold. The exterior of a building is the calling card of the community that lives within it (and let's remember that 85 percent of Italians are condominium owners ). And at the same time, if it's beautiful, it illuminates a street, a neighborhood, a city; or it lets it slide into darkness if it's ugly and neglected, abandoned to decay . It's the façades of buildings that make the places we live in daily safer, more attractive, more pleasant. And so it's around the façade of a building that a culture of sharing , of being together, is built, or lost and wasted. It's no coincidence that façades, and not only, are often the subject of argument between those who don't care and want to let them decay and those who understand how important it is to keep them in order and intervene.
FACADE BONUS
Add to this discussion another point that confirms the essentiality of facades: maintenance. A word that has been downgraded in Italy by local and central governments that have completely ignored it. For decades. Consider, for example, the most catastrophic case, that of Rome, and think of similar events and jokes, and forget that a city, a municipality, a village, and even a condominium building, are well managed first and foremost through the care of shared spaces. In urban areas, the streets, the sidewalks, the gardens. In buildings, first and foremost, the facades. All of this is heritage , frequently squandered, not only of those who legally own it, but belongs to the entire population in general . A city with gray, dirty, and crumbling facades, besides creating dangers, including cornices that collapse and kill, repels those who attempt to visit it with the curiosity that the places of the infinite Bella Italia deserve.
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REFURBISHMENT OF CONDOMINIUM FACADES
Given such value, such power, it's only right that there are significant incentives , generally called bonuses , for the maintenance and renovation of facades. We've reached 90 percent of the costs , in the form of tax deductions, and so there are no longer any economic excuses for undertaking a major, nationwide facade renovation project. Add to this other bonuses already on the table, available to citizens willing and able to protect beauty and increase urban safety and sustainability: tax credits of up to 85 percent for thermal insulation, 65 percent for heat pumps, and 50 percent for condensing boilers. These interventions, in addition to restoring the aesthetics and beauty of a building, and creating the conditions for real energy savings in a sustainable manner, allow construction sites to open. Therefore, they create jobs, production, related industries, and supplies. And not for the usual real estate speculation, beyond any rules or common sense, but for a genuine improvement in everyone's well-being. This is the heart of sustainable development.
So, is everything in order? There are only two things missing to fully seize these opportunities and not waste them. The first: maintain good relations with the neighbors. Avoid getting involved in condominium brawls, which unfortunately happens with enormous frequency. What facade, what thermally insulated terrace , what condensing condominium boiler can be built in buildings where condominium members spend their time arguing, dragging their disputes all the way to the courtroom? This is the most absurd waste: with the same money thrown out the window on lawyers' fees and court costs, very significant maintenance and modernization interventions could be made to common areas.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: In this book, the compass of the Non sprecare community for living more peacefully
CONDOMINIUM RENOVATION WORKS
On our website, we've repeatedly outlined the simple and clear law for making condominiums sustainable. That is, livable. For the peace of mind and quality of life of everyone , not just the richest or the most arrogant. It's called the Basil Law. With your neighbor, this rule of life states, you don't argue. Ever. And if anything, you swallow a few bitter words, you let the beginnings of disagreements slide into the refreshing, invigorating water of irony, you defuse some nascent disagreement with a witty quip. All because if, suddenly, we realize we don't have basil to season a tomato salad or a plate of pasta, we can confidently knock on our neighbor's door, knowing they'll open the door and provide us with what's missing from our kitchen. Never mind pointless fights.
The second key factor, for facades and for condominium energy efficiency improvements (which means greater savings on bills and less waste, but also less pollution), is condensed around one magic word: awareness . If we can convince ourselves that maintenance, like the decorum, of the places where we live, are not the sole responsibility of the public sector, or others other than ourselves, then we will have taken a decisive step forward. A decisive one. A dirty, gray, unsafe facade, if we don't intervene, can become a mirror of our worst miseries, like greed, indifference, and detachment from others. Conversely, a clean facade is like a smile pronounced with the word "good morning": a decisive gesture that makes us feel less alone. Every day, every minute, every second.
SHARING ECONOMY: ALL THE BENEFITS OF SHARING
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