The outside corner of the store in 2019, dark red brown brick running past four cream accent courses to a metal parapet
Case File 198

Lightening a Dark Brick Run on a Beavercreek Store Addition

The store added on to its building and the brick for the addition came from a different run, too dark for the wall it joined. The brick distributor paid to have it corrected. The building was photographed again seventeen years later and certified then.

Case No. 198
Structure Retail store
Location Beavercreek, Ohio
Stained 2002
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 17 years, Gold level

2002

  1. The new brick at close range in 2002, grey brown units running dark across every course above a cream base course, with bare graded dirt and a parking lot beyond the corner Before, 2002 View this photo larger
  2. Five applicators working the end wall in 2002 from three extension ladders, the brick to the left of them already lighter than the brick to the right During, 2002 View this photo larger
  3. An applicator on a ladder in 2002 working stain into one brick with a hand brush, a small pot hooked to the rung beside him During, 2002 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The file is plain about it. The brick for the addition came from a different run, it was too dark, and it did not match the wall it joined. Nothing had failed. The brick distributor hired the correction, not the owner.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on brick by brick, lightening the whole of the off color run. The booklet records a step the form does not: a reverse test panel, everything stained but a small patch, so the client could see both states on one wall and approve the blend before the rest was carried through.

2019, seventeen years on

  1. The windowless end of the store in 2019, dark red brown brick reading as one range across both elevations under a metal parapet, a clipped hedge and a spruce at its base After, 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The same brick at close range in 2019, red and brown units varying course by course above the cream base course, a downpipe shadow across the left of the frame After, 2019 View this photo larger
  3. The outside corner in 2019 from close range, three cream accent courses carrying round the return with the red brown field brick even on both faces After, 2019 View this photo larger
  4. The long side wall in 2019 seen down its length, ornamental grasses casting shadows across red brown brick above a cream base course After, 2019 View this photo larger
  5. Looking up the wall in 2019 to a gooseneck light under the roofline, the brick holding one range from the ground courses to the top After, 2019 View this photo larger

What seventeen years prove

One range across the addition and the wall it joined, at arm's length and down the whole elevation. On the certification scale that is Gold, which covers fifteen years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty four years old, and the 2019 photographs are 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 198, transcribed beside the scan so it can be read on a phone and by a search engine.

The case study form for case 198, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Business, Beavercreek, OH (2002)
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
The brick distributor
Reason for project
Addition or makeover
Issue
"The brick on the end of the store were from a different run and did not match the other brick"
What was corrected
"We lightened 100% of the off-colored brick"
Storyline
"When the store added on to the building, the run of brick was too dark. 19 years later, it still looks great!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020
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