The rear wing of a Belleville house in 2019, its brick one even range of red and tan between two lanterns
Case File 083

Restoring Power Washed Brick on a Belleville Home

A power washer took the color off the brick on this house. It was put back by hand in 2000, unit by unit, until the wash lines were gone. It was photographed again nineteen years later and certified then.

Case No. 083
Structure Home, brick and siding
Location Belleville, Michigan
Stained July 2000
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 19 years, Gold level

2000

  1. The front of the house in 2000, the brick around its arched window running pale cream and grey with patches of bare salmon Before, 2000 View this photo larger
  2. A rear wall part way through the work in 2000, some courses carrying warm color again while the units beside them stay pale and mottled During, 2000 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The file puts it in eight words: the house was damaged by a power washer. Nothing had failed in the wall itself. The pressure had taken the color off the face of the brick and left lines behind where the wand had travelled.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, unit by unit. The line in the file is its own: we went through the wall and carefully restored the lost color and removed the power wash lines. It was hired by the mason, not the homeowner.

2019, nineteen years on

  1. The rear wing of the house in 2019 from the patio, its brick one even range of red and tan under a shingled gable, with a sliding door between two lanterns 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The same arched front window in 2019, the brick of the arch and the wall around it holding one even range of red, tan and grey 19 Years After View this photo larger
  3. An outside corner of the walkout level in 2019, the brick turning the return in one range from the path to the underside of the deck 2019 View this photo larger
  4. The walkout wall in 2019 seen across a rock garden, one range of red and tan brick running its full length below the sided upper story 2019 View this photo larger

What nineteen years prove

Same window, same wall, and the color the file says was put back is still the color that is there. On the certification scale that is Gold, which covers fifteen years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty-six years old, and the 2019 certification is the most recent record on it.

The 2000 frames are scans of film prints and the 2019 frames are digital, so the two sets do not share a cast. What the file records is a color restored, not a color changed.

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 083, 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 083, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Residence in Belleville (2000)
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 mason or contractor
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Issue
"The house was damaged by a power washer."
What was corrected
"We went through the wall and carefully restored the lost color and removed the power wash lines."
Storyline
"19 years ago (2000), the brick were damaged due to power washing. We stained the brick all those years ago and it still looks great today!"
Address
"Permission needed to release address"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 20 July 2019
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