A wide band across the front of the house in 2019, orange-red brick around a bay window and an arched front door under tan trim
Case File 138

Adding Color to Bland Brick on a Baltimore Home

The brick on this single-story house went up off color from one end to the other. The brick manufacturer paid to have it corrected in 1998, the year the house was built. It was photographed again twenty-one years later, and the file marks it Platinum.

Case No. 138
Structure Single-story house
Location Baltimore
Stained 1998
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 21 years, Platinum level

1998

  1. The front of the house in 1998 with the brick newly laid, cream trim on the bay window, bare trees behind the roof and raw graded earth where the lawn will be Before, 1998 View this photo larger
  2. The side of the house in 1998, a siding gable over a brick wall with a door and two windows, raw earth banked at the foundation Before, 1998 View this photo larger
  3. A corner wall of the house in 1998 at close range, light and dark units mixed through every course under the eave beside a window Before, 1998 View this photo larger
  4. The brick arch over the front door in 1998, cream trim on the arch and a dark door below, the units around it reading in several shades Before, 1998 View this photo larger
  5. The front of the house later in 1998, the bay window and arched entry under the same roof, the brick reading darker and more even across the elevation, the ground still bare After, 1998 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The file puts it in six words: off-colored brick throughout the house. The evidence pages add the direction of the miss. The brick was too light and needed to be darkened for a better match, and around the front door it was visibly uneven, in the file's words a poor first impression to house guests. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty.

It was hired by the brick manufacturer, not by the homeowner.

What was done

The phrase in the file is that it added color and character to a bland brick and created a better match. One patch on the side wall was darkened to blend with the rest of the wall. The notes on the evidence pages say the stain is absorbed into the brick, so the texture and the face of a treated unit read the same as the untreated unit beside it.

2019, twenty-one years on

  1. The front entrance of the house in 2019, a brick bay window with tan trim beside an arched front door, grasses and hostas in the bed and a stone-edged walk to the step 21 Years After View this photo larger
  2. The front of the house in 2019 from the lawn, the bay window and entry under mature trees, the brick one even range across the elevation After, 2019 View this photo larger
  3. The same side wall in 2019, a tan door and two windows in even brick under the siding gable, a tree and a chain-link fence beside it After, 2019 View this photo larger
  4. The same corner wall in 2019, the courses one even range from the window to the corner, a tree and a planted bed in front After, 2019 View this photo larger
  5. The brick beside the arch of the front door in 2019 at close range, courses of orange-red units meeting at the corner under tan trim After, 2019 View this photo larger

What twenty-one years prove

The same front, the same side wall and the same arch, twenty-one years apart. The line in the file is that you would not know the brick was stained unless you were told, and its evidence page records no cracking, blistering, peeling or fading after 21 years. The mark is Platinum, twenty years and over on the certification scale, and as of 2026 the work is twenty-eight 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 138, transcribed beside the record so it can be read on a phone and by a search engine.

The case study form for case 138, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Residence, Baltimore, MA (1998)
Level
Platinum. The scale runs Bronze at seven years and over, Silver at ten and over, Gold at fifteen and over, Platinum at twenty and over.
Hired by
The brick manufacturer
Cause
Complaint or problem
Background
"Off-colored brick throughout the house"
Actions taken
"We added color and character to a bland brick and created a better match"
Detail of events
"21 years later, you wouldn't even know the brick was stained unless you were told. The house and brick look completely natural"
Address
"Release permission required"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020
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