By Scott Johnston

There's nothing like a visit to the Aurora Home Show to demonstrate how inadequate your home really is.

You may walk into the Show proud of your beloved domicile and thinking your house has stood the test of time, but by the time you leave following discussions with various vendors, you may never look at it the same way again.

The vendors aren't trying to make you feel bad – well, maybe some of the more sadistic ones are – but times change.  This means a continuing evolution in building materials, technology, design standards and decor.

Take televisions, for example.

Not too long ago, TVs were big, heavy, vacuum-tube filled cubes sitting on special stands, that could only be located in a room where a TV cable happened to come out of the wall, and whose programs could only be watched when the networks scheduled them.

Now TVs are so thin they're virtually two dimensional, although ironically can display in 3D, are light enough for even monster-sized versions to be mounted on any wall, can, based on wifi access, be located anywhere in a home, and can provide virtually any content any time, or at the very least, automatically record it for your viewing at a time of your convenience.

While the example of televisions is a bit technology-related, the pace of this sort of rapid change can be applied to everything you may find at the Home Show: kitchen counters, windows, flooring, appliances, furnaces, driveways, decks, window coverings, insulation, paint, garage doors, plumbing, appliances, doors, water softeners, furniture, air conditioners, security systems, patios, lighting, hot tubs, roofing…

Yes, everything, even paint, can be made new and improved, given enough research time, and incentive by the manufacturers to make a profit by rendering the previous version obsolete.

So, bottom line; no matter how recently-built your residence is, there's a lot of stuff that's rapidly becoming outdated in it. 

This includes a number of things you'll discover at the Home Show that you apparently desperately need to think of, but have never even heard of, like parging, ferrules and cap flashing.

The vast variety of things to see makes it easy to get wrapped up in all of the possibilities. 

The fact that many vendors will be offering deals of various sorts certainly encourages you to check out their offerings.  After all, who doesn't want a discount on the installation of a new eaves trough, or get a free upgrade on a kitchen renovation, even if the only reason you dropped by the Show was to get a hotdog from the Optimists' Club BBQ?

You may even find yourself seriously contemplating that deal for 10 per cent off a yard of topsoil, even though you live in a condominium.

At the very least one can never get enough free pens, scratch pads and fridge magnets, which it seems everyone gives away each year.

A few hours at the Stronach Aurora Recreation Complex each spring is certainly an enlightening experience.

But beware; depending on how much guilt you come away with about the condition of your current home, the $5 cover charge may be easy on the pocketbook, but the subsequent upgrades to your house may not be.

However, your home will look great.  At least until you see how dated it's become on your visit next year to the 2020 Home Show. Feel free to e-mail Scott at: machellscorners@gmail.com