The four-story office from across the street in 2019, one cream brick elevation under the Diocese of Grand Rapids lettering
Case File 067

Darkening Light Corner Brick at the Grand Rapids Diocese

The corner brick on this four-story office went up lighter than the wall it turned, so every return read as a stripe. The company that made the brick paid to have the corners darkened rather than cut out. It was photographed again eleven years later and certified then.

Case No. 067
Structure Four-story office building
Location Grand Rapids, Michigan
Stained April 2008
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 11 years, Silver level

2008

  1. Looking up the corner of the four-story office in 2008, cream brick piers between bands of blue glazing with a metal sunshade fin at the corner During, 2008 View this photo larger
  2. An outside corner of the office in 2008, the narrow brick return running up beside the flat wall a shade warmer than the face next to it After, 2008 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The file puts it in five words: the corners were too light. On a wall of cream brick that reads as one plane from the street, a lighter run at every return draws a vertical line the height of the building. The phrase in the file is a zipper in the wall.

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, and paid for staining over tear-out.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, on the corner units only. They were darkened into the range of the wall they turned, and nothing else on the elevation was touched. The file records the difficulty plainly: this was a really hard brick, and it took the stain anyway.

2019, eleven years on

  1. The four-story office from across the street in 2019, its cream brick running past four floors of windows under the Diocese of Grand Rapids lettering 2019 View this photo larger
  2. Close view of the office corner in 2019, cream brick meeting a dark return and a black metal sunshade, with the certification stamp in the frame 11 Years After View this photo larger
  3. The brick wall of the office running up to its corner in 2019, the flat face in sun and the return in shadow, both in one cream and buff range 2019 View this photo larger

What eleven years prove

Same corners, same wall, and the returns still sit in the range they were stained to. On the certification scale that is Silver, which covers ten years and over. As of 2026 the work is eighteen 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 067, 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 067, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Zipper Shapes (2008)
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
"The corners were too light."
What was corrected
"We darkened the cormer brick to create a better blend with the wall." The form is transcribed as written, including "cormer" for corner.
Storyline
"The corner brick were too light and created a zipper in the wall. This was a really hard brick, but we were still able to successfully stain these bricks, and it still looks great today!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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