The brick elevation of a single-story Cleveland office in 2019, one red brown range across the wall
Case File 247

Staining a Whole Cleveland Office to Hide a Repair

Brick on this single-story office was repaired, and the repair did not match what was already there. The whole elevation was stained in 1996 rather than the patch on its own. It was photographed again twenty-three years later and certified then.

Case No. 247
Structure Single-story office
Location Cleveland, Ohio
Stained 1996
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 23 years, Platinum level

1996

  1. A buff brick office wall in 1996 with a lettered sign band across it, a large rectangle of replacement brick standing out paler than the brick around it Before, 1996 View this photo larger
  2. The same office from its outside corner in 1996 after staining, the wall reading as one buff and tan range with the replacement area no longer standing apart After, 1996 View this photo larger

What the file records

"The repaired brick did not match the original brick." A repair had gone into the wall and stopped the elevation reading as one surface. The job was hired by the business that owns the building, and the reason is logged as Other rather than as a complaint.

What was done

"We stained 100% of the brick." Not the patch on its own. Taking the whole elevation to one range is what stops a repair reading as a repair, and it is the reason the correction still holds at a distance.

The file does not oversell it. The original was matched "the best we could", the result "is not a perfect match", and it "is better than how it originally looked."

2019, twenty-three years on

  1. The office seen from across the street in 2019, its brick one red brown range from the sign band down to the sidewalk, with a glass block window bay to the right 23 Years After View this photo larger

What twenty-three years prove

The wall was photographed again in 2019 and certified then. On the certification scale twenty years and over is Platinum, and this file is twenty-three. As of 2026 the work is thirty years old, and the 2019 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 247, 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 247, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Cleveland Office Building (1996)
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
A business or corporation
Reason for project
Other
Issue
"The repaired brick did not match the original brick."
What was corrected
"We stained 100% of the brick."
Storyline
"We matched the original brick the best we could. It is not a perfect match but it is better than how it originally looked. In the close up" (the entry stops there on the form)
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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