The front of a single-story red brick house in 2019, the brick one even range across both gables
Case File 102

Toning Down Red Showing Through a Macomb Home

The brick on this new house went up blotchy, with too much red running through the range. The company that made the brick paid to have it corrected rather than torn off, and the file records a rush: it had to be right before the grand opening in 2000. It was photographed again nineteen years later.

Case No. 102
Structure Single-story brick home
Location Macomb, Michigan
Stained August 2000
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 19 years, Gold level

2000

  1. Brick at unit scale in 2000 beside an arched opening, bright red units set among dark blue grey ones in an uneven wall During, 2000 View this photo larger
  2. The side wall of the house in 2000 with the work finished, an even red and brown range running past two glass block windows to the arched entry After, 2000 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. The brick arrived blotchy, and the red in it read louder than everything around it. The file puts the issue in one line: a lot of red showing through blotchy walls.

It was hired by the brick manufacturer, not the homeowner. A brick company decided the color 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, and not one color over the whole wall. The correction on the form is exact: mostly darkened the red (tinted) and lightened a few areas for a better blend. The date stamps on the two 2000 frames read 8/3 and 8/4, the rush the file describes.

2019, nineteen years on

  1. The front of the single-story house in 2019, red brick across both gables and the garage wing under a low grey roof 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The arched entry and the side wall in 2019, the red brick one even range from the eaves down past the glass block windows 19 Years After View this photo larger
  3. A window with a cast stone sill set in the red brick in 2019, the units around it one range of red and dark brown behind mature planting 2019 View this photo larger

What nineteen years prove

One range of red brick, from the gable peaks down to the sill courses, with no line where the correction stops. On the certification scale that is Gold, which covers fifteen years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty-six 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 102, 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 102, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Macomb, MI (2000)
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
Brick manufacturer
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Issues
"A lot of red showing through blotchy walls."
What was corrected
"Mostly darkened the red (tinted) and lightened a few areas for a better blend."
Storyline
"We were hired to fix this before the grand opening in 2000. This was a rush job. Looks awesome in 2019!"
Address
"Permission needed to release address"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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The single-story house from the street in 2019, one range of red brick running across the garage wing and the entry.

Taking Light Orange Brick to Red on an Ohio Ranch Home

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