The long brick front of a high school in 2019, the wall reading as one range from end to end
Case File 031

Matching an Expansion to the Existing Lawton High School

An expansion went up against this school in brick that did not match the wall it was joined to. The school paid for the staining itself, and every one of the new units was color enhanced into the existing range. It was photographed again fifteen years later and certified then.

Case No. 031
Structure High school
Location Lawton, Michigan
Stained September 2004
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 15 years, Gold level

2004

  1. A school wall in 2004, the flat pale brick left of a vertical joint sitting against warmer, more varied brick to the right of it Before, 2004 View this photo larger
  2. A school wall in 2004 with the brick left of the vertical joint now carrying the same mixed greys, greens and browns as the brick to its right During, 2004 View this photo larger

What was wrong

An expansion was built onto the school and its brick did not match the brick already standing. The file puts it in eight words: school expansion matching new brick to existing brick. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. The two ranges did not agree.

The school hired it directly, not the mason and not the brick supplier. The file is blunt about the sequence, and it is the useful part for anyone specifying an addition: the staining was an afterthought rather than something written into the job.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, unit by unit. The scope in the file is 100 percent of the utility brick: every new unit was color enhanced into the range of the wall it was joined to, rather than a few spots corrected. The approved test panel is on the upper part of the wall above the entrance, and the file says you can still see it there.

2019, fifteen years on

  1. The school seen from the street in 2019, LAWTON HIGH SCHOOL lettered across the brick, the wall reading as one range along its whole length 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The corner where the school's tall block meets the lower entrance wing in 2019, the brick running in mixed browns and greys across a vertical joint 2019 View this photo larger
  3. The school entrance in 2019 with the Brickman certified stamp across the corner of the frame, the brick an even mix of browns, greys and reds After, 2019 View this photo larger
  4. The school's A entrance in 2019, individual brick units reading brown, grey and red across the wall, with a pale buff brick return at the right edge 15 Years After View this photo larger

What fifteen years prove

Same school, photographed again in 2019 and signed off that year. On the certification scale that is Gold, which covers fifteen years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty-two 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 031, 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 031, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Lawton High School (2004)
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 school
Reason for project
Addition or makeover
Issue
"School expansion matching new brick to existing brick."
What was corrected
"100% of the utility brick needed color enhanced."
Storyline
"You can see the approved test panel on the upper part of the wall above the entrance. The school hired MCI directly. We were an after thought. The school wanted a better match, it looks great in 2019!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 07/01/2019
More Case Studies See all case studies →
The Bed Bath & Beyond storefront in 2019, its entrance piers and the wall behind them reading as one red brick

Staining Tan Piers Into the Red Wall of a Pickerington Store
A brick high rise in Canton, Michigan, its two runs of brick reading as one

Darkening the Light Run on a Canton High Rise
The church wing and its entrance seen across the lawn in 2019, the wing and the older walls behind it reading as one brick

Blending a New Wing Into St Thomas Parish Church

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