The front of the Lost Creek house in 2019, an arched entry gable of pale cream brick behind planting, with a second gable and a neighboring house beyond
Case File 320

Lightening Dark Brick on a Lost Creek Ohio Home

The brick on this house carried more dark units than the homeowners wanted. The brick manufacturer paid to have almost all of it stained lighter in 1998. It was photographed again twenty-one years later and certified then.

Case No. 320
Structure Single-family house
Location Lost Creek, Ohio
Stained May 1998
Re-photographed October 2019
Elapsed 21 years, Platinum level

1998

  1. An inside corner of the house in 1998 at a downspout, the brick a mixed range of cream and darker tan units under a small window, with a camera date stamp in the corner Before, 1998 View this photo larger
  2. An applicator in a blue cap working stain into the cream brick wall with a brush on a long handle in 1998, a propane cylinder on the ground beside him During, 1998 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Nothing had failed. The brick was within its range, but the range carried more of the dark body color than the homeowners had expected and not enough of the lighter color they had chosen it for. The file records that they did not expect a stain to get them there. The brick manufacturer hired the correction, not the homeowner.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, over almost all of the brick. The 1998 frames show the wall going lighter one unit at a time while the joints stay as they were.

2019, twenty-one years on

  1. The front of the house in 2019, an arched entry gable and a second gable with a fanlight window in one pale cream brick, mature planting along a paver walk and lawn 21 Years After View this photo larger
  2. Two stacked gables of the house in 2019, an arched attic window above two windows with brick arches over them, the wall one even cream color 2019 View this photo larger
  3. A garage door and a brick pier with a lamp post in 2019, the cream brick and its soldier course above the door one color with the house behind 2019 View this photo larger

What twenty-one years prove

One color across the entry gable, the side gables, the garage and the pier wall, with the joints still reading as joints. On the certification scale that is Platinum, which starts at twenty years. As of 2026 the work is twenty-eight 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 320, 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 320, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Lost Creek, OH Residence (1998)
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 homeowners were unhappy with the amount of dark brick in the range."
What was corrected
"We stained almost all of the brick."
Storyline
"The homeowners were not expecting our product to achieve the look they wanted. There was too much body color of the brick and not enough of the lighter color they wanted so we stained almost all of the brick and 21 years later (2019), we did not disappoint."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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