Home Expo’s experts draw crowds

“We’re looking for basement remodeling, support, a portico for the front door and a shower door,” Jim Guest said as he pored over samples and photos in the booth of Freedom Works Building and Remodeling Inc., an Odenton firm. Using a photo album, the CEO of the 22-year-old firm, Rick Oliver, pointed out the details of a wood-paneled wet bar.

A few booths away, Billy Derian, host of the DIY Network’s “Extra Yardage” show, startled landscape architect and illustrator Paul LeVine, of Finksburg, when he dropped by LeVine’s Landscape Designs booth and began leafing through his illustrated designs.

“These are good,” Derian murmured as several of his fans stopped and gawked.

Derian was scheduled to present a seminar on landscaping at noon. For a few minutes, he stood outside the lecture room and listened to WTOP radio’s garden editor, Mike McGrath, talk about composting and the American lifestyle. “Using a leaf blower is the perfect American occupation,” McGrath declared to knowing chuckles from his audience. “You create a lot of noise but accomplish little.”

He went on to talk about how to create the perfect compost — one that does not involve using any commercial products.

In the main exhibit hall, visitors buzzed among nearly seven dozen booths whose smiling representatives stood ready to discuss and demonstrate a rainbow of items from kitchen cutlery, cookware, countertops and appliances, to rooftop solar panels, fencing, awnings, gutters, driveways and closet organizers.

“We do this show every year,” said Zachary S. Carrubba, 29. His in-laws own Maryland Shower Enclosures, based in Annapolis. He’s worked for the 15-year-old company since he graduated from South River High School. “We’ll probably sell 15 to 25 jobs at this show. I love doing them,” he said, showing off one of the company’s glass shower doors.

Carrubba also does a little shopping at the expo.

“I bought insulation one year from Summit Insulation, another regular exhibitor. He bought a shower door from me,” Carrubba said.

Brad Leahy, representing Blades of Green, a lawn care and pest control service, was using bright yellow flyswatters to lure potential customers to his booth.

“This is the best show we do,” he said. “Last year, we picked up a lot of new customers and several regular customers dropped by, too. We did so well last year, instead of being here for just one weekend, we booked both weekends this year.”

Expo celebs

Dr. Lori Verderame, whose syndicated column appears in The Capital and in 93 other publications, and appears on Discovery Channel’s reality show, “Auction Kings,” will conduct appraisals at the expo during her “What It’s Worth” presentations at noon, 2 and 3?p.m. today. Audience members can bring one item for appraisal.

“If you have five more items, bring five friends,” Verderame advised. This is one of more than 100 personal appearances she is scheduled to make this year.

“I’ve been to the Home Show in Annapolis several times. We do appraisals and laugh,” the Pennsylvania resident said. “Last year, someone brought in a Pairpoint reverse painted lamp, dating from the 1880s to 1910. It is worth over $40,000. One man brought in blueprints of the Jefferson Memorial in D.C. His father had worked on it in the ‘30s and ‘40s.”

In a phone interview, Verderame said she’ll appraise anything except firearms. Her appraisals are done on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants sit in the audience and await their turn while Verderame lectures and conducts appraisals.

“We help people identify how markets work. How they can get the most money out of things and not give it all away at a yard sale,” she said.

“Anyone who is appraising your objects should not have a financial interest in your object. They might not give you an accurate appraisal if they are going to buy it from you to sell later. One woman I met sold a document to an appraiser for a few dollars. He resold it for $50,000.”

One last bit of advice from Verderame before the show: “Typically, an object your mother said to protect because it has family history is something you should protect. Two sisters in Virginia Beach had a family heirloom, a painting, they didn’t like. It turned out to be worth $150,000.”

Another celebrity appearing at the show is Damon Bennett. A regular on HGTV’s “Holmes Inspections,” Bennett left a home renovation project in Toronto on Friday and took an evening flight to appear at the Home Expo yesterday. It was his first visit to Annapolis and his fifth public appearance at a home show.

“There are no actors on the show,” the contractor said. “Mike Holmes and I are hands-on people. We do all the work and the bags under our eyes should show it.”

Bennett, 40, has been doing home improvements since he was 12. He met Holmes eight years ago, and the two have worked together since then.

Bennett planned to advise audience members on questions they need to ask a home inspector before purchasing a house. Among them: “Do you see any signs of mold? How does the basement look? Do you see any cracks or signs of settling? Do you have an infrared camera? It’s an expensive tool, but it looks behind walls without tearing them up and can ‘see’ moisture readings and missing insulation. Is the electrical OK? How long will it last?”

“There are a lot of good home inspectors in the world, but on our show we see the worst of the worst in the greater Toronto area,” he said.

“Thousands of emails come in every week from people asking for help. We go through and pick the worst, the most troubled ones that home inspectors really screwed up. We’re not out to attack home inspectors or contractors, but we’re trying to make the public aware of what to look for in a home inspection. Education is important.”

For information and a complete vendor listing, visit http://www.MidAtlanticExpos.com.

Wendi Winters is a freelance writer based on the Broadneck Peninsula.

Visit link:
Home Expo’s experts draw crowds