The corner of the Buffalo Grove building in 2021, buff brick with soldier course bands running around the corner and snow banked at the base
Case File 401

Blending Blotchy Brick on a Buffalo Grove Building

The brick on this single-story commercial building went up off color, with blotchy areas all over it. The company that made the brick paid to have the majority of the off colored units stained for a better blend in 1991. It was photographed again in 2021 and certified Platinum.

Case No. 401
Structure Single-story commercial building
Location Buffalo Grove, Illinois
Stained 1991
Re-photographed 2021
Elapsed 30 years, Platinum level

1991

  1. A buff brick wall in 1991 beside a taller wing, with a louver, a metal door and an open overhead loading door, darker blotches drifting across the courses and a pile of fill in front Before, 1991 View this photo larger
  2. The whole building from across the graded site in 1991, buff brick blocks stepping back to an office wing with a ribbon of windows, a backhoe and heaped soil in the foreground Before, 1991 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Off colored brick and blotchy areas all over the building, in the file's words. Both 1991 frames were taken while the site was still being graded, and the mottling reads across every course of the new wall. The brick manufacturer hired the correction, not the owner and not the mason.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand. The file records the majority of the off colored bricks stained for a better blend, not the whole wall: the units already in range were left as they were and the rest brought to them.

2021, thirty years on

  1. The corner of the building in 2021, buff brick with two bands of soldier courses running around it to a green door with a louver above, snow banked at the base and the certification stamp in the corner After, 2021 View this photo larger

What thirty years prove

One range of buff brick around the corner, with the certification stamp on it. On the certification scale that is Platinum, which starts at twenty years. The storyline on the form counts 29 years; from 1991 to the 2021 signature it is 30. As of 2026 the work is thirty-five years old, and the 2021 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 401, 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 401, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Buffalo Grove IL (1991)
Level
Platinum. 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 manufacturer
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Issue
"Off colored brick and blotchy areas all over the building."
What was corrected
"We stained the majority of the off colored bricks for a better blend."
Storyline
"29 years later, and the staining still holds up!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2021
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