The covered porch of the Johnstown house in 2019, its brick an even red and tan range beside two sash windows
Case File 285

Darkening the Light Run of Brick on a Johnstown Home

Two different runs of brick went up on this house and the homeowner turned them down. The company that made the brick paid to have the pale units darkened rather than have the wall taken off. It was photographed again twenty years later and certified then.

Case No. 285
Structure Single-story home
Location Johnstown, Ohio
Stained May 1999
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 20 years, Platinum level

1999

  1. The inside corner of the covered porch in 1999, two brick walls meeting under a white soffit, whole courses reading pale against the darker units around them Before, 1999 View this photo larger
  2. The wall beside the front door after staining in 1999, a sash window with a manufacturer's sticker still on the glass and the brick reading as one darker red range After, 1999 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. Two different runs of brick had gone up on the same house, so the wall did not agree with itself, and the homeowner would not take it. The file records the rejection in the owner's own terms.

The brick manufacturer is marked as the hirer. A brick company decided the colour of a finished house 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. Only the pale run was touched, brought down into the range of the brick around it. The file puts it in ten words: we darkened the light colored brick to blend in the wall.

2019, twenty years on

  1. The covered porch in 2019 looking out to the lawn, a table and chairs against a brick wall that reads as one even red and tan range past two sash windows 20 Years After View this photo larger
  2. The same inside corner of the porch in 2019, a swing hanging in front of two brick walls that now read as one continuous red and tan range After, 2019 View this photo larger
  3. The outside corner of the attached garage in 2019, a carriage lamp on blended brick with the lawn and treeline beyond 2019 View this photo larger
  4. Close view of the brick above the garage opening in 2019, individual units running from pink through tan to dark brown with no pale run standing out of the wall 2019 View this photo larger

What twenty years prove

Same porch, same inside corner, photographed again in 2019. The two runs still read as one wall and no pale course has come back through. On the certification scale that is Platinum, which covers twenty years and over, and the form was signed the following year. 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 285, 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 285, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Johnstown OH Residence (1999)
Level
Platinum. 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
"The brick were rejected by the homeowner; two different runs of brick got put on the home."
What was corrected
"We darkened the light colored brick to blend in the wall."
Storyline
"Over 20 years later, the stained brick have not only stayed naturally breathable and natural looking, the stain has held up and look the same as when we left the job site that day!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020
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