The 135 degree corner of the bank in 2004 before staining, red brick with two dark accent courses and the corner units reading lighter than the wall, a window bay to the right
Case File 042

Matching Off Color Corner Shapes on a Chicago Bank

The 135 degree corner shapes on this bank went up off color against the stretcher brick around them. The brick manufacturer paid to have the shapes stained to match in 2004. The corner was photographed again in 2019 and in 2021 and certified Gold.

Case No. 042
Structure One-story bank
Location Chicago, Illinois
Stained 2004
Re-photographed 2019 and 2021
Elapsed 17 years, Gold level

2004

  1. The 135 degree corner of the bank in 2004 before staining, seen from below in sunlight: red brick wall with two dark accent courses, the corner units a lighter pink than the stretchers, a stone band above and a glass window bay to the right Before, 2004 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The corners of this building turn at 135 degrees, so every corner course is a special shape, not a cut stretcher. The file is plain about it: shapes can be one of the hardest things for a manufacturer to match. These came out of range against the stretcher brick, and on a building that is mostly glass, the corners are where the eye lands. The brick manufacturer hired the correction, not the bank.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, on the corner shapes only. The stretcher brick set the target and the shapes were carried to it. The file notes the other route too: the same shapes can be stained at the plant before the brick ships.

2019 and 2021, fifteen and seventeen years on

  1. The same 135 degree corner in 2019, the corner shapes and the stretcher brick reading as one red range between two dark accent courses, windows either side reflecting trees and ivy climbing the base After, 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The corner of the bank in 2019 from further back, the stained corner shapes between two dark accent courses with a window bay on each side reflecting trees After, 2019 View this photo larger
  3. Looking up the corner in winter 2021, a glass curtain wall on the left and the red brick corner with its dark accent courses on the right, running up to a stone parapet under a grey sky After, 2021 View this photo larger
  4. A hand holding a printed 2004 photograph of the corner up against the same corner in 2021, the soffit grille and sky behind 2021 View this photo larger
  5. A hand holding a printed 2004 photograph of the corner up in front of the brick in 2021, a window poster behind it 2021 View this photo larger

What seventeen years prove

Two revisits, fifteen and seventeen years after the work, the second one with the 2004 prints in hand, held up against the wall. The file's own note on the 2019 frames: no cracking, flaking or blisters after fifteen years. On the certification scale that is Gold, which starts at fifteen. The 2004 frame is a sunlit camera shot and the revisits are phone shots in shade and snow, so read the corner shapes against the stretchers beside them.

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 042, transcribed beside it so it can be read on a phone and by a search engine.

The case study form for case 042, filled in and signed, as printed in the case booklet View the signed form full size
Project name
Bank, Chicago (2004)
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 manufacturer
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Issue
"135° corner shapes on the building were off color."
What was corrected
"We stained the corner shapes to closely resemble the stretcher brick."
Storyline
"Shapes can be one of the hardest things for a manufacturer to match. There are times we are called in after the brick is laid to color enhance the shapes, but there are times too that we are asked to stain the shapes at the plant before the brick are shipped."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020
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