The brick gable end and long elevation of a two-story Dublin office in 2019, reading as one red range
Case File 294

Lightening Large Areas of Dark Brick on a Dublin Office

Large areas of the brick on this two-story office center fired darker than the range it was specified in. The company that made the brick paid to have ninety percent of it lightened rather than torn out. It was photographed again fourteen years later and certified then.

Case No. 294
Structure Two-story office center
Location Dublin, Ohio
Stained August 2005
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 14 years, Silver level

2005

  1. The outside corner of the office in 2005, the wall carrying broad areas of darker brick with small yellow marks set against them Before, 2005 View this photo larger
  2. A wall of the office part way through the work in 2005, the brick above the stone base reading paler across the middle of the elevation During, 2005 View this photo larger

What was wrong

"There were large areas of dark brick that did not belong in the range." Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. The units were sound; a share of them had come out of the kiln darker than the range the building was specified in, and at wall scale they read as patches.

It was hired by the brick manufacturer, not the owner and not the mason. A brick company decided the color of a finished building it had supplied was its own problem.

What was done

"We lightened 90% of the brick." Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, unit by unit. Not one color across the elevation: the dark units were brought up into the range of the ones around them, which is why the finished wall still reads as several brick colors rather than as a single flat tone.

2019, fourteen years on

  1. The office seen from the parking lot drive in 2019, the gable end and the long elevation beyond it reading as one red brick range 14 Years After View this photo larger
  2. The gable end of the office in 2019, the brick carrying one even red range from the stone base up to the roof line 2019 View this photo larger
  3. A wall of the office at close range in 2019, the brick reading as one red range above and below the banded soldier course 2019 View this photo larger
  4. The gable of the office seen from below in 2019, the brick arch over the tall window and the wall around it in one even red range 2019 View this photo larger

What fourteen years prove

The file records that this was not one building: "There were multiple buildings that had the same issue with the brick. They were considering having the brick torn down and redone but instead they hired us." Fourteen years on, the same wall still reads as one range. On the certification scale that is Silver, which covers ten years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty-one 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 294, 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 294, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Dublin Office Center (2005)
Level
Silver. 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
"There were large areas of dark brick that did not belong in the range."
What was corrected
"We lightened 90% of the brick."
Storyline
"There were multiple buildings that had the same issue with the brick. They were considering having the brick torn down and redone but instead they hired us and we were able to complete it to their satisfaction."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
More Case Studies See all case studies →
The corner of the university building in 2019, both brick elevations reading as one tan and red range up to the stone coping.

Staining the Top of a Michigan University Wall to Match
An outside corner of the office in 2019, the blended brick running as one range across both faces under a clear sky

Blending a Two Story Michigan Office Brick Range
A high brick wall on the hospital in 2007 with the work finished, the blended range running unbroken across the face.

Darkening Light Units on a Lansing Michigan Hospital

Your Project, Documented for Decades

Every job we stain enters the same discipline: photographed, revisited, re-photographed.

Request a Quote
Call Us Request a Quote