The garage wing of a single-story brick house in 2019, its red brick reading as one even range under a low hipped roof
Case File 153

Darkening Light Peaks on an Avon Indiana Ranch Home

Parts of the brick on this single-story house came out lighter than the rest. The company that made the brick paid to have them darkened, in a few hours on site. It was photographed again sixteen years later and certified then.

Case No. 153
Structure Single-story ranch home
Location Avon, Indiana
Stained July 2003
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 16 years, Gold level

2003

  1. The corner of a single-story brick house in 2003, red brick running under a wide hipped eave beside a shuttered window, with a yellow crayon mark on the wall to the right Before, 2003 View this photo larger
  2. A side wall of the same house in 2003, red and brown brick running back from a glass block window to an air conditioning unit at the far corner During, 2003 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. Some of the brick had come out of the kiln at the light end of its own range, and the file records the issue in eight words: light areas in the peaks of the house.

The bill went to the brick manufacturer. The company that supplied the brick paid to have the color corrected rather than have the wall taken off.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed in by hand, and only onto the units that sat outside the range. The whole account of the work on the form is four words: darkened the light areas.

2019, sixteen years on

  1. The three car garage wing of the house in 2019, its red brick reading as one range under a low hipped roof, a soldier course arch turned over each door 2019 View this photo larger
  2. An outside corner of the house in 2019 with a carriage lamp on the wall and a stepped brick pier at the angle, the brick an even red and brown range, the Brickman certified stamp in the bottom corner of the frame After, 2019 View this photo larger
  3. The wall at unit scale in 2019, seen along the brick at a raking angle, reds, tans and olive browns with pale mortar joints 16 Years After View this photo larger

What sixteen years prove

Same walls, one color range, no patchwork left to see. On the certification scale sixteen years is Gold, which starts at fifteen. The file names the one thing that moved and does not dress it up: "It may have lightened slightly since the day we finished the project, but we were only on site for a few hours, and it most likely lightened a few hours after we left the site, not years later." As of 2026 the work is twenty-three 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 153, 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 153, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Avon Indiana Residence
Level
Gold. 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
Brick manufacturer
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Issues
"Light areas in the peaks of the house."
What was corrected
"Darkened the light areas."
Storyline
"It may have lightened slightly since the day we finished the project, but we were only on site for a few hours, and it most likely lightened a few hours after we left the site, not years later. Regardless, the staining has held up great!"
Address
"Permission needed to release address"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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