The Macomb house from the front lawn in 2019, its lightened brick reading as one even range
Case File 112

Lightening Blotchy Dark Brick on a Macomb Michigan Home

The brick on this single-story house went up blotchy and dark. The company that made the brick paid to have it lightened and blended rather than torn off. It was photographed again eighteen years later and certified then.

Case No. 112
Structure Single-story home
Location Macomb, Michigan
Stained 2001
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 18 years, Gold level

2001

  1. Two brick gables with arched windows on a newly built single-story house, the brick a pale cream and tan mix During, 2001 View this photo larger
  2. The side elevation of the same house, a long run of cream and buff brick under a low hipped roof During, 2001 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The brick went up blotchy. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty; the colour was wrong, and it was wrong everywhere. The file puts it in six words: the house had blotchy/dark brick everywhere.

It was hired by the brick manufacturer, not the family and not the mason. A brick company decided that the colour of a finished house it had supplied was its own problem, and paid for staining over tear-out.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, unit by unit. The phrase in the file is that we lightened and blended the walls. Not one flat colour over the elevation: the dark units were brought up into the range of the ones around them, which is why the finished wall still reads as several close tones rather than one.

2019, eighteen years on

  1. The house from the front lawn in 2019, its brick one even range of cream, buff and soft grey across both gables 2019 View this photo larger
  2. Close view of a brick pier beside the garage, the units in mixed creams, greys and soft reds with pale mortar joints 18 Years After View this photo larger
  3. An oblique view along the blended wall past a glass block window, the brick reading as one range of cream and grey 2019 View this photo larger

What eighteen years prove

Same house, same walls, and a blend that is still the blend it was mixed to. On the certification scale that is Gold, which covers fifteen years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty-five 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 112, 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 112, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
MaComb, MI Residence (2001)
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 brick manufacturer
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Issue
"The house had blotchy/dark brick everywhere."
What was corrected
"We lightened and blended the walls."
Storyline
"What a mess they had on their hands. With several colors, finesse, and great patience, this project turned out great!"
Address
"Permission needed to release address." The file records the town and no more, so neither does this page.
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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