The courtyard corner of the university building in 2019, its red brick reading as one even range under a band of clerestory windows
Case File 230

Matching Repaired Brick on a Livonia University Building

Areas of this campus building had been repaired, and the repaired brick did not match the range around it. The trade that did the work paid to bring the off color units back into that range. It was photographed again twelve years later and certified then.

Case No. 230
Structure University building
Location Livonia, Michigan
Stained 2007
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 12 years, Silver level

2007

  1. A single-story wing with sloping clerestory glazing in 2007, its red brick carrying darker mismatched areas, set against a two-story block and a covered breezeway Before, 2007 View this photo larger
  2. A single-story brick wall photographed straight on in 2007, the units reading as one even red range under a long band of dark clerestory glass After, 2007 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The file puts it in one line: the areas that were repaired were not a good match for the rest of the range. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. Replacement brick sat in finished walls reading as patches against everything around it.

The Hired by line reads mason or contractor, so the trade that carried out the repair paid to settle the color rather than leaving it with the campus.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed into the brick by hand, unit by unit. The correction line reads: we stained all of the off-colored brick. Not one tone across the elevation. The off color units were brought into the range of the brick around them, which is why the finished wall still reads as a range.

2019, twelve years on

  1. The inside corner of a grassed courtyard in 2019, red brick running along both wings as one even range from the lawn up to the clerestory windows, with a glazed common room on the right 12 Years After View this photo larger

What twelve years prove

Twelve years on, the walls read as one range of brick rather than as a wall with patches in it. On the certification scale that is Silver, which covers ten years and over. As of 2026 the work is nineteen 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 230, 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 230, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
University in Livonia (2007)
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
Mason or contractor
Reason for project
Other. The three named boxes on the sheet, complaint or problem, color change, and addition or makeover, are all left blank and the X is against Other.
Issue
"The areas that were repaired were not a good match for the rest of the range."
What was corrected
"We stained all of the off-colored brick."
Storyline
"We were able to stain all of the off-colored brick to match the rest of the range and create a nice match for the range of brick."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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