The front of the single-story Barboursville house in 2020, pale pink brick running from a bay window past the attached garage
Case File 349

Lightening Brick With Red Body Showing in Barboursville

The white coating on this brick sat heavier on some walls than others, and the dark red body read through where it was thin. The brick manufacturer hired the correction, not the homeowner. The house was photographed again twelve years later and certified then.

Case No. 349
Structure Single-story house
Location Barboursville, West Virginia
Stained April 2008
Re-photographed 2020
Elapsed 12 years, Silver level

2008

  1. The gable end of the house in 2008, brick reading dark red and purple in patches under a satellite dish, with bare graded dirt along the base and a burned-in camera date in the corner Before, 2008 View this photo larger
  2. The same gable end later in 2008, the brick carried to one soft pink range across the wall and the gable, ground still bare After, 2008 View this photo larger
  3. The front wall beside the bay window in 2008, white coated brick broken up by red and purple units, photographed with a burned-in date of 04 16 2008 Before, 2008 View this photo larger
  4. The front elevation later in 2008, the bay window and the garage wall now reading as one pale range from the porch to the garage door After, 2008 View this photo larger
  5. Close on the side door in 2008, a carriage lamp on the left and a course of darker red header brick running across above the opening Before, 2008 View this photo larger
  6. The same side door later in 2008, the header course now sitting in the same range as the brick faces around it After, 2008 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The brick went up with a white coating that sat heavier on some parts of the house than others. Where it was thin the dark red body read straight through, and the wall came out blotchy rather than one color.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on, lightening the units whose dark red body showed through until the house sat in one range. The header courses were their own step. Headers commonly miss the coating the brick face gets, which is why they read first.

2020, twelve years on

  1. The whole front of the house in 2020, pale pink brick running from the bay window past the entry to a white garage door, lawn mown to the drive 2020 View this photo larger
  2. The gable end in 2020, the same pale range across the wall, with a meter box added and landscape timbers and turf where the bare dirt had been 12 Years After View this photo larger
  3. The side door in 2020, the header course above it still in range with the wall, a planted bed and timber edging now along the base 12 Years After View this photo larger
  4. The bay window wall in 2020, twelve years of weather on the same pale brick, with a grown shrub at the corner and the drive running past 2020 View this photo larger

What twelve years prove

Same walls, same range, including the headers. The file records no fading, blistering, peeling or cracking at the revisit. On the certification scale that is Silver, which covers ten years and over. As of 2026 the work is eighteen years old, and the 2020 certification is the most recent record on it.

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 349, 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 349, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Residence, Barboursville, WV (2008)
Level
Silver. The scale runs Bronze at seven and over, Silver at ten and over, Gold at fifteen and over, Platinum at twenty and over.
Hired by
The brick manufacturer
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Issue
"Customer was unhappy with the blotchy red body showing through."
What was corrected
"MCI lightened the brick that had the dark red body showing through."
Storyline
"Some areas of the house had more of the white coating on the brick than other areas. This is a good example of lightening a brick."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020
Address
Withheld on the form: release permission required
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