A wide band of the campus courtyard in 2019, the two-storey addition on the right and the taller main building on the left carrying the same buff brick
Case File 266

Matching an Old Addition to an Indiana University Building

An old addition stood against the main building in a different brick, and it showed. The university hired the color change in 2006. It was photographed again thirteen years later, and the file marks it Gold.

Case No. 266
Structure University
Location Indiana
Stained 2006
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 13 years, Gold level

2006

  1. The addition in 2006, two storeys of red brown brick running right from the buff cream main building it is attached to Before, 2006 View this photo larger
  2. The outside corner during the 2006 work, the near return wall still red brown while the long elevation beyond it already carries the buff range, two men on extension ladders at the corner During, 2006 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The file puts it in one line: an old addition stood out and did not match the building it was attached to. The 2006 frame shows why. Two storeys of red brown meet a buff cream wall at a straight vertical joint.

The university hired the work itself. Not the architect, and not the mason.

What was done

Mineral stain on the old addition, brushed on by hand, taken to the range the main building already carried. The frame from the middle of the job shows the corner half done: the long elevation already buff, the return wall still red brown.

2019, thirteen years on

  1. The courtyard in 2019, the two-storey addition on the right and the taller main building on the left, both walls holding the same buff brick range where they meet 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The same addition wall in 2019, one even buff range from the planting bed up past both rows of windows to the gutter, the main building beyond it at the left 13 Years After View this photo larger
  3. Close on the wall beside an oak entrance door in 2019, cream, grey and pale pink units mixed unit by unit across the courses 2019 View this photo larger

What thirteen years prove

The same wall, thirteen years apart, and the addition still reads as one range with the building it joins. At arm's length the close frame shows cream, grey and pale pink units mixed course by course.

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 266, transcribed beside the record.

The case study form for case 266, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
University, Indiana (2006)
Level
Gold. 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 school or university
Cause
Addition or makeover
Background
"This university wanted a better match for an old addition"
Actions taken
"We stained the old addition to closely match the main building"
Detail of events
"An old addition to this university stood out and didn't match the building it was attached to, so they hired us to make them match"
Address
"Release permission required"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020
More Case Studies See all case studies →
The four-story office from across the street in 2019, one cream brick elevation under the Diocese of Grand Rapids lettering.

Darkening Light Corner Brick at the Grand Rapids Diocese
The corner of the school in 2019 with an entrance under the taller block behind it, the brick reading as one red and brown range along both walls

Darkening Light 8x8 Units on a Bluffton High School
The church across its parking lot in 2019, the gabled glazed nave on the left and a long brick wing running away to the right

Color Enhancing Light Brick and Mortar at St Francis

Your Project, Documented for Decades

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

Request a Quote
Call Us Request a Quote