The bank elevation in 2021, red brick with scattered dark headers running above and below a limestone band
Case File 395

Staining the Original Brick of an Indiana Bank to a New Story

A second story went onto this bank in a brick that did not match the wall under it. The mason who built the addition hired the correction, and the original brick was stained to the new work in 2003. It was photographed again in 2021.

Case No. 395
Structure Two-story bank
Location Indiana
Stained 2003
Re-photographed 2021
Elapsed 18 years, Silver level

2003

  1. Looking up the wall in 2003 where the new second story meets the original, red and brown brick above a limestone band and flat dark brown brick below it Before, 2003 View this photo larger
  2. A square of the dark brown wall masked off with blue tape in 2003 and stained red, with a loose brick of the target color propped against the wall beside it During, 2003 View this photo larger
  3. The same wall in 2003 after staining, red brick with scattered dark headers running both above and below the limestone band, past an arched window to an arched doorway After, 2003 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The file is blunt: a second story addition was built onto this Indiana bank, but a different brick was used. The new work went up red and brown over a wall of flat dark brown, split by a limestone band that made the break impossible to miss. Nothing had failed. Two brick were never going to read as one building.

What was done

The older brick was the one that moved. The file records it in a line: we stained the original brick to match the new addition. A masked square and a loose brick of the target color settled the blend before anything else was touched.

2021, eighteen years on

  1. The bank in 2021, two stories of red brick with scattered dark headers carrying the length of the elevation to a canopied entrance at the far corner, a bare tree and a lamp post in front 2021 View this photo larger
  2. The same elevation in 2021 from closer in, the limestone band running unbroken between the upper windows and the arched windows below, snow banked on the ground in front 18 Years After View this photo larger

What eighteen years prove

The limestone band is still the only line across the wall. Above it and below it the brick reads as one range, which is the whole test. The file certifies that at Silver.

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 395, 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 395, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Bank, Indiana (2003)
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 mason or contractor
Reason for project
Addition or makeover
Issue
"A second story addition was built onto this Indiana bank, but a different brick was used"
What was corrected
"We stained the original brick to match the new addition"
Storyline
"Matching brick colors can be a nightmare when some bricks are no longer manufactured. This however, is no issue when you turn to masonry staining!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020
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Your Project, Documented for Decades

Every job we stain enters the same discipline: photographed, revisited, re-photographed.

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