The upper brick elevation in 2019, pale stone lintels running across four floors of windows
Case File 185

Matching New Repair Brick to Old on Cincinnati Apartments

A repair had gone in and the new brick did not match the old. All of the brick was stained rather than the repaired area alone, mortar included. It was photographed again seven years later and certified then.

Case No. 185
Structure Apartment building, ground floor bar
Location Cincinnati, Ohio
Stained 2012
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 7 years, Bronze level

2012

  1. The brick elevation in 2012 before staining, the wall running through several shades of orange red under pale mortar, with a work truck at the kerb Before, 2012 View this photo larger
  2. The same elevation after staining in 2012 in low direct sun, brick and mortar reading as one red brown range After, 2012 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Brickwork on the building had been repaired and the replacement units did not match what was already there. The file puts it in one line: a repair was done but the new brick didn't match the old.

A mason or contractor hired the work, not the owner and not the brick supplier. The form marks the reason as other, so it was logged as neither a complaint, an addition or makeover, nor a color change.

What was done

All of the brick was stained, not the repaired area alone. Mineral stain, brushed on by hand. The file records the scope twice, once as the correction and once in the storyline: 100% of the brick, brick and mortar both.

2019, seven years on

  1. The building from the street in 2019, four floors of stained brick above the entrance with pale stone lintels at each level 7 Years After View this photo larger

What seven years prove

Photographed again in 2019 and certified then. Seven years is Bronze on the certification scale, which runs from seven to nine. The file's verdict on the brick and the mortar is that both are holding up great today. As of 2026 the work is fourteen years old, and 2019 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 185, 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 185, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
E 6th St. Apartment Building (2012)
Level
Bronze. 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
Other
Issue
"A repair was done but the new brick didn't match the old."
What was corrected
"We stained 100% of the brick."
Storyline
"We stained the brick and mortar, both are holding up great today."
Address
Withheld on the form: "Permission needed to release address."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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