The long side wall of the Lincoln apartment building in 2021, pink brown brick in direct sun above a bank of electric meters
Case File 403

Blending an Off Color Run on Lincoln Nebraska Apartments

A run of off colored brick was laid into one section of this three-story apartment building. The company that made the brick paid to have it stained to blend with the rest in 1997. It was photographed again twenty-four years later and certified then.

Case No. 403
Structure Three-story apartment building
Location Lincoln, Nebraska
Stained 1997
Re-photographed 2021
Elapsed 24 years, Platinum level

1997

  1. The three-story apartment building in 1997 seen across an unfinished garage court, pink brick under a hipped roof with a retaining wall and bare dirt in front, a camera date in the corner Before, 1997 View this photo larger
  2. Two applicators on extension ladders working stain into the brick at a corner of the building in 1997, a downspout between them and three rows of windows running off to the right During, 1997 View this photo larger

What was wrong

One run of brick came out a different color from the rest and was laid into a section of the building. Nothing had failed; the new brick did not match the walls beside it. The company that made the brick hired the correction, not the owner.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, brick by brick. The file records it in one line: stained the brick for a better blend and match. The 1997 frames show the applicators on ladders at the corner.

2021, twenty-four years on

  1. The long side wall of the apartment building in 2021, pink brown brick in direct winter sun above a bank of electric meters and condensers, a darker return wall at the right, with the certification stamp in the corner After, 2021 View this photo larger

What twenty-four years prove

The long wall reads as one range in direct sun. The file's storyline is one line: 24 years later, it still looks great. On the certification scale that is Platinum, which starts at twenty years. As of 2026 the work is twenty-nine years old, and the 2021 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 403, 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 403, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Lincoln NE Apartments (1997)
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
"Off colored run of brick laid on a section of the apartments."
What was corrected
"Stained the brick for a better blend and match."
Storyline
"24 years later, it still looks great."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2021
More Case Studies See all case studies →
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
The hospital from the street in 2019, two storeys of brick over a cream precast screen wall, the brick holding one red range across both levels.

Spot Color Correcting Brick Around a Michigan Hospital

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