A band of the home's washed pink and cream brick wall in 2020, the units one even range with dormant shrubs in front of the lower courses
Case File 337

Lightening Black Marks on a Home's Brick Wall

Scattered units on this home's brick wall carried dark spots on their faces, and the homeowners would not accept them. The spots were lightened with stain in 2005 to blend into the brick around them. It was photographed again in 2020 and certified Gold.

Case No. 337
Structure Home, garden wall
Location Not released
Stained 2005
Re-photographed 2020
Elapsed 15 years, Gold level

2005

  1. The grey washed brick wall in 2005 before the work, dark spots on scattered units running in a band across the middle courses Before, 2005 View this photo larger
  2. The same wall in 2005 after the work, the brick one even grey washed range with no dark spots showing After, 2005 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Dark spots on the surface of the brick, scattered across the wall a unit at a time. Nothing was cracked or loose. The file's words are that the homeowners deemed them unacceptable, and it was the homeowners who hired the correction.

What was done

The dark spots were lightened with mineral stain until they blended into the units around them. The file calls it a small but great example of the process: the fix goes onto the marked brick, and the wall around it is left as it was.

2020, fifteen years on

  1. The garden wall of the home in 2020, its washed pink and cream brick one even range under a white soffit, a stone fountain and dormant shrubs in the snow in front of it, with the Brickman Certified stamp at the lower right After, 2020 View this photo larger

What fifteen years prove

The same wall in 2020, and no spot showing through. On the certification scale that is Gold, fifteen years and over. The file's own count is sixteen years, with no reason it should not last another sixteen. As of 2026 the work is twenty-one years old, and the 2020 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 337, 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 337, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Lightening Black Marks (2005)
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
The homeowner
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Issue
"Dark spots on the surface of the brick where deemed unacceptable by the homeowners."
What was corrected
"We lightened the dark spots to blend into the others."
Storyline
"This is a small but great example of our process. The dark spots were lightened by out stain, and it has lasted 16 years; there's no reason why it shouldn't last another 16 and beyond!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020
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