Buff brick carrying the lettering of the Meijer Public Broadcast Center in 2019, above the entrance canopy
Case File 034

Correcting 15,000 Off Color Brick at Grand Valley State

About fifteen thousand brick on this campus building went up off color, in two main areas. The university hired the correction in August 2000. It was photographed again nineteen years later and certified then.

Case No. 034
Structure University building
Location Grand Rapids, Michigan
Stained August 2000
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 19 years, Gold level

2000

  1. The blank end wall of the building in 2000, its brick a flat pale grey buff around two stacked square windows and a louvre vent, with two Masonry Cosmetics trucks parked at the base Before, 2000 View this photo larger
  2. A red brick panel meeting the buff brick of the return wall at an inside corner in 2000, its units running from pale cream to dark red course by course, with foam board and sand at the base 2000 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The brick went up off color. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty; roughly fifteen thousand units did not agree with the wall around them. The file puts it in one line: about 15,000 pieces were off color and needed stained in two main areas.

The university hired the work, not the mason and not the brick company.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, unit by unit. The file records it plainly: MCI stained the 15,000 off color pieces. Only the units out of range were touched.

2019, nineteen years on

  1. The entrance to the Meijer Public Broadcast Center in 2019, buff brick carrying the building lettering above the canopy and a lower band of red brick beside the doors, with the Riviera Tool Company Plaza wall in front 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The Meijer Public Broadcast Center from the road in 2019, its lettered buff brick gable under a standing seam roof, with a taller brick block behind it and a glazed wing to the left 2019 View this photo larger
  3. The engineering laboratories in 2019, a blank warm tan brick end wall meeting a full height glazed stair tower, with shrubs and a lamp standard at the base 2019 View this photo larger
  4. The same end wall in 2019 from the same side, the two stacked square windows and the louvre vent set in warm tan brick that holds one range across every course, the frame carrying the Brickman Certified stamp 19 Years After View this photo larger

What nineteen years prove

An addition now covers most of the 2000 work, and the file says so. What stayed visible is what carries the record: "there are still visible areas to prove the brick we stained are still lasting the test of time." Nineteen years is Gold on the certification scale, which covers fifteen years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty-six 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 034, 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 034, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Grand Valley State University (2000)
Level
Gold. 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
School or university
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Issue
"About 15,000 pieces were off color and needed stained in two main areas."
What was corrected
"MCI stained the 15,000 off color pieces."
Storyline
"Back in August of 2000, MCI was called in to color correct roughly 15,000 off colored brick. Since 2000, they have put an addition on the building covering most of the staining that we did, but there are still visible areas to prove the brick we stained are still lasting the test of time!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 07/01/2019
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