The office from across the street in 2019, tan brick with curved corners under a blue standing seam mansard roof
Case File 080

Color Correcting Radial Shapes on a Grand Rapids Office

The corners of this office are turned in radial shape brick, and the shapes came out with more red in them than the face brick. Every one of them was color corrected in 1994. The building was photographed again in 2019 and certified Platinum at twenty-five years.

Case No. 080
Structure Office
Location Grand Rapids, Michigan
Stained 1994
Re-photographed July 2019
Elapsed 25 years, Platinum level

1994

  1. The glass entry door and a curved brick corner in 1994, the radial shape brick on the curve reading pinker than the tan face brick beside two narrow windows Before, 1994 View this photo larger
  2. Looking up at a curved brick bay in 1994, a tall narrow window on its left face and the radial shapes on the curve a shade redder than the flat wall Before, 1994 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Every corner of this office turns on radial shapes, curved brick that carries the wall round without an edge. The file puts it in one line: the radial shapes did not match. They had more red in them than the other brick, and shapes, the file says, are one of the hardest things for a manufacturer to match.

What was done

Mineral stain on 100 percent of the radial shapes and nothing else. The face brick was left as delivered and the shapes were brought to it. The file records the job as a favor for a mason's office building, which is why Hired by reads Other.

After the work, 1994 and 2019

  1. The whole office front from across the street in 2019, tan brick with two curved corners flanking a glass door under a blue standing seam mansard, a white overhead door on the bay next to it 2019 View this photo larger
  2. Close on a curved corner in 1994 after the work, the radial shapes and the flat brick either side of them reading as one tan range After, 1994 View this photo larger
  3. The same curved corner in 2019, seen close along the side wall with an extension ladder leaning past a narrow window, the shapes and the face brick one color After, 2019 View this photo larger
  4. The entrance in 2019, a glass door recessed between two curved brick bays with a rowlock course at the sill line, the blue roof edge above After, 2019 View this photo larger
  5. Close on the door and the right hand curved bay in 2019, the radial shape brick on the curve and the flat brick beside the window sharing one tan and salmon range 25 Years After View this photo larger

What twenty-five years prove

The shapes and the face brick still read as one wall. On the certification scale that is Platinum, twenty years and over; the file's own note ticks twenty years, then twenty-five. As of 2026 the work is thirty-two 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 080, transcribed beside the form so it can be read on a phone and by a search engine.

The case study form for case 080, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Office, Grand Rapids, MI (1994)
Level
Platinum. The scale runs Bronze at seven years and over, Silver at ten and over, Gold at fifteen and over, Platinum at twenty and over.
Hired by
Other. The Detail of events explains it: a favor for a mason's office building.
Cause
Addition/Makeover
Background
"The radial shapes did not match"
Actions taken
"We color corrected 100% of the radial shapes"
Detail of events
"This was a favor we did for a mason's office building. Shapes can be one of the hardest things for a manufacturer to match, but we were able to come in after the fact and match the shapes to the face brick"
Evidence map notes
"It's not uncommon for shape bricks to be a slightly different color." "The shapes had more red in them than the other brick, so we stained 100% of the shape brick." "This mason trusted us to create a custom stain that would last: 20 years, 25 years, and still going strong!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020
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