The side elevation of the Indiana apartment building in 2019, red brown brick under tan siding
Case File 090

Blending Off Color Brick on an Indiana Apartment Building

Off-colored brick ran through this apartment building in Indiana. The brick manufacturer paid to have it blended in 2002, some units darkened and some lightened. It was photographed again seventeen years later and certified Gold.

Case No. 090
Structure Apartment building
Location Indiana
Stained 2002
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 17 years, Gold level

2002

  1. The side elevation of the apartment building in 2002, a band of brick under tan siding with a bank of electric meters at the far end, the units reading in patches of lighter and darker color Before, 2002 View this photo larger
  2. A window in the brick wall in 2002, the units around it running from pale pink to dark brown with no pattern Before, 2002 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Off-colored brick throughout the building, in the file's words. Nothing had failed. Units in the wrong range were scattered across every elevation, which reads as blotching from the street. The brick manufacturer hired the correction.

What was done

Stain, unit by unit, in both directions. The file records that brick was darkened and lightened for a better overall blend, in blending patterns rather than one color over everything. The stain is translucent, so the texture and tone variation of the units stay visible.

2019, seventeen years on

  1. The same side elevation in 2019, the brick under the tan siding reading as one red brown range from the downspout to the meter bank, with a tree in leaf at the corner After, 2019 View this photo larger
  2. A window in the brick wall in 2019, the units around it in one red brown range with a small vent below 17 Years After View this photo larger
  3. An inside corner of the building in 2019 under a sawtooth soffit, the brick on both walls in one range After, 2019 View this photo larger

What seventeen years prove

Same side elevation, same meter bank, one range across the brick. The file records no fading, blistering, cracking, flaking or peeling after seventeen years, and stained units still indistinguishable from unstained. On the certification scale that is Gold, fifteen years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty-four years old; the 2020 signature is the most recent record on it.

The signed file

Every certified job gets the same form, signed when someone goes back to the building. This is the one for case 090, transcribed so it can be read on a phone and by a search engine.

The case study form for case 090, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Apartments, Indiana (2002)
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 brick manufacturer
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Background
"There were off-colored brick throughout this apartment building."
Actions taken
"We darkened and lightened brick for a better overall blend."
Detail of events
"The stain has held up great even after all this time!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020. Address withheld on the form: release permission required.
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