The chimney in 2019, its brick one warm red and tan range from the bay window below to the cap above the roof
Case File 199

Matching the Top of a Michigan Chimney to the Brick Below

The brick at the top of this chimney came out the wrong color against the brick below it. The mason who laid it is the one who called in the correction, not the homeowner. It was photographed again eighteen years later and certified then.

Case No. 199
Structure Chimney on a two-story home
Location Michigan
Stained May 2001
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 18 years, Gold level

2001

  1. The chimney from below in 2001, the brick in its upper section a pale grey buff against the warmer tan units further down Before, 2001 View this photo larger
  2. A worker on a boom lift platform beside the top of the chimney in 2001, the upper brick still pale against the warmer shaft below During, 2001 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. The chimney was new, and the brick at the top of it did not agree with the brick below. The file puts it in nine words: the top of the chimney was the wrong color.

It was hired by the mason, not the homeowner and not the brick company. The contractor who laid the brick is the one who called it in.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, on the top of the chimney only. The file: we stained the top of the chimney to match the rest of the range of brick. Nothing lower down was touched, which is why the stack reads as one range from the roof to the cap.

2019, eighteen years on

  1. The chimney in 2019 running past the bay window and the roof to its cap, the brick one warm red and tan range the whole height 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The back of the two-story house in 2019, the chimney rising the full height of the elevation past the pool and the deck 2019 View this photo larger
  3. The chimney shaft filling the frame in 2019, every course reading as the same range of red, tan and cream units 18 Years After View this photo larger
  4. The top of the chimney against the sky in 2019, the brick above the eaves the same range as the brick beside them 2019 View this photo larger

What eighteen years prove

Same chimney, same brick, and a top that still sits inside the range it was matched to. On the certification scale that is Gold, which covers fifteen years and over. The file says it more plainly: eighteen years later and it still looks awesome. 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 199, 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 199, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
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 mason or contractor
Reason for project
Other. The form's three named boxes, complaint or problem, color change, and addition or makeover, were all left unmarked.
Issue
"The top of the chimney was the wrong color."
What was corrected
"We stained the top of the chimney to match the rest of the range of brick."
Storyline
"The top of the chimney was a great test of our product. 18 years later and it still looks awesome!"
Address
"Permission needed to release address"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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