Red brick running through the shaped units at the outside corner of the Michigan building in 2019, the corner reading in the same range as both walls
Case File 212

Darkening Light Corner Shapes on a Michigan Building

The shaped units at the corners of this Michigan building went up lighter than the brick on either side of them. The company that made the brick hired the correction in 2002. The corners were photographed again seventeen years later and certified then.

Case No. 212
Structure Commercial building
Location Michigan
Stained 2002
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 17 years, Platinum level

2002

  1. The outside corner of the single story building in 2002, the shaped units running up the corner reading pink and flat against the red brick of both walls, bare dirt at the base and a coil of white wire hung beside the corner Before, 2002 View this photo larger
  2. The same corner later in 2002 with the shaped units darkened, the corner now carrying the red range of the walls either side, the same coil of wire and the same bare dirt still in place After, 2002 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The Background field is one line: the corner shapes were too light. The 2002 frame shows it, a pink column of shaped units running up the outside corner against red brick on both returns. The file also says why it happens. Shapes are often off color because of how the runs are coated at the plant. Here the company that made the brick paid for the correction.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on unit by unit, to bring the shapes into the range of the wall. The file records the coverage exactly: 100 percent of the corner shapes were darkened.

2019, seventeen years on

  1. An outside corner of the building in 2019, red brick running through the shaped corner units and on across both walls under a standing seam metal roof, with mown lawn, rose bushes and variegated shrubs along the foot After, 2019 View this photo larger
  2. A second corner of the building in 2019, a downspout dropping down the shaped corner between two window bays, the brick reading as one red range from the base course to the eaves 17 Years After View this photo larger

What seventeen years prove

In 2019 the building was photographed again. The bare dirt of the 2002 frames is lawn and settled planting, and the corners still carry the color of the walls. The form marks Platinum, the twenty year band on the certification scale, against seventeen years to the revisit photographs and eighteen to its 2020 signature. As of 2026 the work is twenty-four years old.

The signed file

Every certified job gets the same form, signed once someone has gone back to the building. This is the one for case 212, transcribed beside the form page so it can be read on a phone and by a search engine.

The case study form for case 212, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Building Shapes, Michigan (2002)
Level
Platinum. The scale runs Bronze at seven years and over, Silver at ten and over, Gold at fifteen and over, Platinum at twenty and over.
Hired by
The brick manufacturer
Cause
Complaint or problem
Background
"The corner shapes were too light"
Actions taken
"We darkened 100% of the corner shapes"
Detail of events
"Shapes can often be off-colored due to how runs are coated at the plant. This doesn't have to be a problem, we can help you sell shapes that might be off-colored."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020. Address: release permission required.
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