Home show offers more personal service

With warmer weather on the way, people are looking to get started on home remodeling and improvement projects.

While many will look online for ideas and materials, around 8,000 people will be touching, inspecting and asking questions about all things home-related at the Black Hills Home Builders Association Home Show, which opens at noon today at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

(The home show) is important in our technological world where people are used to ordering off the Internet and dont always know what theyre getting, said Jeff Lage, home show chairman. You can meet with people who can tell you whats good or whats bad.

Whats good is brick, according to Kevin Aker, sales manager at Hebron Brick & Block Supply in Rapid City.

Aker said brick is making a comeback. And a new product Hebron is offering makes it easier to work with. The thin brick, called Authentic Americana, is lighter than traditional brick.

Its a tumbled brick that is supposed to look rustic and old, Aker said. Its a natural clay brick. Its not fake. Its just that the face is cut off.

That means it can be used anywhere, inside or outside.

Any room: kitchen, bathroom, bar, back splash, fireplace fire pit or patio, Aker said. If you want brick but cant support the weight, you can use the thin brick.

The Hebron booth will be one of about 400 at this weekend's home show, where contractors, vendors, suppliers and manufacturers will offer information, services and home goods.

This will be Jim Tolleys 16th year at the home show. The president and janitor of J&D Woodworks in Black Hawk will show off a massive cedar bar that took about 150 hours to build and was just finished this week.

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Home show offers more personal service