The university building's brick wall in 2019, red and brown across a louvred vent and a course of cast stone banding
Case File 040

Staining Off Colored Brick Back Into Range at Indiana Wesleyan

A few areas of brick on this university building went up off color. The company that made the brick paid to have them stained back into range rather than torn out. They were photographed again eighteen years later and certified then.

Case No. 040
Structure University building
Location Indiana
Stained July 2001
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 18 years, Gold level

2001

  1. A tall wall in 2001 with two louvred vents stacked one above the other and cast stone banding between them, its brick reading pale buff against the red brick wing standing behind it on the right 2001 View this photo larger
  2. A blank end wall below a rooftop terrace railing in 2001, a long diagonal shadow falling across its left half and a service door at the base of the taller section During, 2001 View this photo larger

What was wrong

A few areas of brick went up off color. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty; those areas did not agree with the brick around them. The file puts it in a sentence: there were a few areas on the building where the brick were off colored.

It was hired by the brick manufacturer, not the university and not the mason. A brick company decided that the color of the brick it had supplied was its own problem, and paid for staining rather than tear-out.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, unit by unit, and only where the color sat outside the range. The phrase in the file is stained the off colored brick back to an acceptable color range. Brick that was already right was left alone.

2019, eighteen years on

  1. A tall wall in 2019 with two louvred vents, cast stone banding, a standpipe and planted beds at its base, its brick reading red and brown in the same range as the wing standing behind it on the right 2019 View this photo larger
  2. A blank end wall below a rooftop terrace railing in 2019, its red brown brick running evenly from the parapet down to the ramp and the service door at the base 18 Years After View this photo larger
  3. An inside corner where two brick walls meet in 2019, the courses running unbroken around it in one red and brown range above a planted bed 2019 View this photo larger
  4. Close view of a louvred vent set into the brick in 2019, the units around it in a mixed red, brown and grey range with pale mortar joints 2019 View this photo larger

What eighteen years prove

An addition has since covered some of the stained brick. What is still exposed was re-photographed in 2019 and certified Gold, which covers fifteen years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty-five years old, and the 2019 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 040, 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 040, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Indiana Wesleyan (2001)
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
Issue
"There were a few areas on the building where the brick were 'off colored'."
What was corrected
"MCI stained the off colored brick back to an acceptable color range."
Storyline
"A few of the stained areas were covered up by an addition, but the stained areas that are still exposed look great in 2019!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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