A wide band of the school's brick elevation in 2021, one even red range running past two rows of windows to a glazed bay
Case File 006

Correcting Diagonal Lines on an Indiana School Wall

The brick on this technical school went up with large spots of off color units and diagonal lines across one large wall. A mason hired the color correction in 1999. It was photographed again twenty-two years later, and the file marks it Platinum.

Case No. 006
Structure Technical school
Location Indiana
Stained 1999
Re-photographed 2021
Elapsed 22 years, Platinum level

1999

  1. The elevation in 1999, its gray brick blotched with pale and darker areas beside a full-height glazed bay Before, 1999 View this photo larger
  2. The large wall in 1999, a broad diagonal band of off color brick running across the courses under two square windows, with a ladder standing against it Before, 1999 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The file puts it in twelve words: there were large spots of off color brick that were highly visible. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. Diagonal lines and off colored areas ran across one large wall, and the light gray units did not sit in the range of the red brick around them. The file records who noticed: the architects were not happy.

It was hired by the mason, not by the owner and not by the architect.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand. The gray units were the only ones that needed it, so they were corrected one by one with a brush rather than one flat color going over the whole elevation. The phrase in the file is color corrected the off-color areas for a better match.

2021, twenty-two years on

  1. The outside corner of the school in 2021, three levels of brick reading as one even red range from the grass to the parapet, with a glazed bay beyond 2021 View this photo larger
  2. The same elevation in 2021, the brick an even red range from the window band down past the square windows to the glazed bay 22 Years After View this photo larger
  3. The large wall in 2021, the courses holding one even red range across the full width with rows of windows above and below 2021 View this photo larger

What twenty-two years prove

The same large wall, twenty-two years apart, and no band showing through where the correction went. The line in the file is that it looks as good today as it did in 1999. The mark is Platinum, twenty years and over on the certification scale, and as of 2026 the work is twenty-seven years old.

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 006, transcribed beside the record so it can be read on a phone and by a search engine.

The case study form for case 006, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Tech School, Indiana (1999)
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
The mason or contractor
Cause
Other. None of the form's named causes is marked.
Background
"There were large spots of off color brick that were highly visible"
Actions taken
"We color corrected the off-color areas for a better match"
Detail of events
"There were diagonal lines and off colored areas very visible throughout the large wall. The architects were not happy! Over 20 years ago we were called in and color enhanced the wall. It looks as good today as it did in 1999."
Address
"Release permission required"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020
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