The front of a low school building in 2019, its buff brick running unbroken past the entrance canopy
Case File 017

Matching New Brick to Old on a Kingsford Heights School

The school added a wing and the brick it already had did not match the brick the wing went up in. Both sides were stained to meet in the middle. It was photographed again and certified fourteen years later.

Case No. 017
Structure School with a 2005 addition
Location Kingsford Heights, Indiana
Stained 2005
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 14 years, Silver level

2005

  1. An inside corner where two walls meet, the wall on the left in mottled yellow and tan brick and the wall on the right in a paler cream, both banded with dark brown courses Before, 2005 View this photo larger
  2. A long blank school elevation in 2005, its buff brick reading as one tone across the corner with two dark brown banding courses running the length of the wall After, 2005 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The school built an addition and the brick did not agree with the brick already standing. The file puts it in fourteen words: they added an addition to the school, but the brick they currently had did not match.

The school hired it directly, not the mason and not the brick company. The building's own owner paid to have the two elevations read as one.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, on both sides of the joint. Parts of the existing building were stained to match the new addition, and parts of the new addition were stained to match the existing building. The file records a second brief on the same job: the color was chosen to complement the school's athletic programs.

2019, fourteen years on

  1. The whole front of the school from the car park in 2019, KINGSFORD HEIGHTS lettered on the fascia above the entrance canopy and the buff brick running one tone across every bay 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The entrance end of the school in 2019 read at an angle, KINGSFORD HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL in metal letters on the buff brick above a dark brown banding course 2019 View this photo larger
  3. Close view under the entrance canopy in 2019, individual buff brick units above a window with a dark brown course running between them and a brick pier at the corner 2019 View this photo larger
  4. The taller wing and the older single-story range meeting across a lawn in 2019, buff brick below and a band of red brick above, with the Brickman certified stamp in the corner of the frame 14 Years After View this photo larger

What fourteen years prove

Same school, photographed again in 2019 and signed off that year. On the certification scale that is Silver, which covers ten years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty-one 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 017, 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 017, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
School in Indiana (2005)
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 school or university
Reason for project
Addition or makeover
Issue
"They added an addition to the school, but the brick they currently had did not match."
What was corrected
"We stained brick on the existing building as well as the addition to create a better match and to compliment the schools athletic programs."
Storyline
"Great example of how flexible we can be! We stained parts of the existing building to match the new addition and parts of the new addition to match the existing building. This was a very cool project to work on, and still looks great 14 years later!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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