The stadium plaza at the Alabama high school in 2021, buff brick and stained mortar under the red fascia, with the bleachers beyond
Case File 405

Staining Every Mortar Joint at an Alabama High School Stadium

The mortar on the stadium gate buildings at this high school went up too rangy and too dark for the brick. Every joint was stained to one color in 2014. It was photographed again seven years later and certified then.

Case No. 405
Structure High school stadium gate buildings
Location Alabama
Stained 2014
Re-photographed 2021
Elapsed 7 years, Bronze level

2014

  1. The concessions and restrooms building in 2014, tan brick under dark metal cladding with mortar joints running from grey to near black, a gated entrance beyond Before View this photo larger
  2. The home ticket booth and gate under a red fascia after staining, grey-tan brick with the mortar one pale color across the wall After View this photo larger

What was wrong

The mortar, not the brick. The file's own words are that it was too rangy and too dark throughout the school. Nothing had failed; the joints simply ran from grey to near black, so the wall read as a grid rather than as brick. The form records who hired the correction only as Other.

What was done

Mineral stain brushed into the joints, and only the joints. The file records the correction as 100% of all the mortar, with the brick left as it was. Bringing a rangy joint to one color is the smaller of the two jobs and the one that changes how the whole wall reads.

2021, seven years on

  1. The stadium plaza in 2021, buff brick and stained mortar under the red fascia, the gates open along the concourse and the bleachers beyond After, 2021 View this photo larger
  2. The fieldhouse and the bleachers in 2021, a band of tan brick with pale mortar joints under dark metal cladding and a red roof After, 2021 View this photo larger
  3. A low brick building on the stadium concourse in 2021, four shuttered service windows in tan brick with pale mortar joints under a red fascia After, 2021 View this photo larger
  4. A concessions building at the stadium in 2021, tan brick with pale mortar joints around two shuttered service windows and a door After, 2021 View this photo larger
  5. The street side of the fieldhouse in 2021, a long tan brick wall with pale mortar joints under dark metal cladding, three grey doors at the left After, 2021 View this photo larger
  6. A corner of the fieldhouse in 2021 seen past a black steel fence, tan brick with pale mortar joints running back toward the bleachers After, 2021 View this photo larger
  7. A brick wall between two steel gates at the stadium in 2021, tan brick with one pale mortar color from the stone cap down to the grass After, 2021 View this photo larger
  8. A walkway beside a stadium building in 2021, tan brick walls and fence piers with pale mortar joints, the school buildings beyond After, 2021 View this photo larger
  9. A stretch of the stadium brickwork in 2021 from a few feet away, grey-tan brick with every mortar joint the same pale grey After, 2021 View this photo larger
  10. A close view of five courses of the brick in 2021, the mortar joints an even pale grey between textured grey-tan units After, 2021 View this photo larger
  11. The visitor ticket gate in 2021, a brick booth with a ticket window beside steel picket gates under a red fascia, with the certification stamp in the corner After, 2021 View this photo larger

What seven years prove

One joint color across the booth in 2021, with the certification stamp on the frame. On the certification scale that is Bronze, which covers seven to nine years. The 2021 signature is the most recent record on it; as of 2026 the work is twelve years old.

The signed file

Every certified job gets the same form, signed on the day someone goes back to the building. This is the one for case 405, transcribed beside the scan so it can be read on a phone and by a search engine.

Scan of the case study form for case 405, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
High School Mortar in AL (2014)
Level
Bronze. The scale runs Bronze at seven to nine years, Silver at ten and over, Gold at fifteen and over, Platinum at twenty and over.
Hired by
Other
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Issue
"Mortar too rangy and dark throughout the school."
What was corrected
"Stained 100% of all the mortar."
Storyline
"Mortar staining still looks great today!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2021
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