The banded brick corner of the church in 2019, its buff field and darker accent courses reading as one range behind mature pines
Case File 262

Lightening Two Dark Accent Bands on a Battle Creek Church

Horizontal accent bands run across the buff brick of this church. Two of them, at the top of the wall, came out darker than the rest. The dark units were lightened rather than cut out, and the wall was photographed again eleven years later and certified then.

Case No. 262
Structure Church
Location Battle Creek
Stained 2008
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 11 years, Silver level

2008

  1. An outside corner of the buff brick wall before staining, the two accent bands nearest the parapet a distinctly darker brown than the bands running below them Before, 2008 View this photo larger
  2. The same wall after staining, every accent band now reading as one grey brown from the parapet down, against the unchanged buff field brick After, 2008 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The wall went up with horizontal accent bands running across a buff field. Two of them, at the top, came out darker than the bands below. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. The file puts the issue in five words: there were dark off-colored brick.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed in by hand, on the dark units only. The correction line in the file is seven words: we lightened two bands of dark brick. That is why the pair above changes at the top of the wall and nowhere else.

2019, eleven years on

  1. The same banded corner in 2019 from the lawn, in full sun and screened by mature pines, the accent courses running unbroken across the buff brick beside a corrugated metal volume 11 Years After View this photo larger

What eleven years prove

Same corner, same courses, and the bands still run as one accent across the buff field rather than as two dark ones and three light. The 2019 frame is bright sun where the 2008 pair is overcast, so read the bands against each other rather than against the older set. On the certification scale that is Silver, which covers ten years and over. As of 2026 the work is eighteen years old, and the 2019 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 262, 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 262, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Battle Creek Church (2008)
Level
Silver. 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
The mason contractor. "Other" is marked on the same line.
Reason for project
Other
Issue
"There were dark off-colored brick."
What was corrected
"We lightened two bands of dark brick."
Storyline
"There were two bands at the top of the wall that were too dark. 11 years later and you cannot even tell they were stained."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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