Dark brown brick with grey mortar joints in 2019, a cream sprinkler connection plate set into the wall
Case File 081

Darkening the Mortar on a Michigan Commercial Building

The mortar on the back of this commercial building came out too light for its dark brown brick. The mason who laid it had the joints darkened in 2000. Photographed again in 2019, signed off at Platinum in 2020.

Case No. 081
Structure Commercial building
Location Michigan
Stained August 2000
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 19 years, Platinum level

2000

  1. The rear wall of the building in August 2000, dark brown brick with pale mortar joints reading as bright lines around a window and an open doorway, an extension ladder against the wall and a camera date of 8 5 00 in the corner During, 2000 View this photo larger
  2. Four applicators in blue shirts working the joints of the rear elevation in 2000, two on extension ladders and one crouched at the base of the wall, with a cream accent band across the brick During, 2000 View this photo larger
  3. The outside corner of the building in 2000 after the work, dark brown brick with two cream accent bands under a cream cornice and dark hipped roof, construction materials still on the ground After, 2000 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The brick was a dark brown blend and the mortar came out several shades lighter, so every joint read as a bright line across the back of the building. The file puts it in one sentence: the mortar on the back of this building was too light. The mason or contractor hired the correction, and the file lists the reason as a makeover, not a complaint.

What was done

Only the mortar. The file's action line is four words, we darkened the mortar, and the 2000 frames show the crew working the joints by hand from ladders across the rear elevation. Nothing was done to the brick.

2019, nineteen years on

  1. A fire department sprinkler connection on a cream plate set into the dark brown brick in 2019, the mortar joints reading grey inside the brick range, with a band of cream glazed brick below 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The rear elevation of the building in 2019 from the parking lot, dark brown brick with two cream accent bands, two white service doors, a louvered vent and a parked car in front After, 2019 View this photo larger
  3. A pale service door in the rear wall in 2019, a cream accent band running above it and the sprinkler connection plate to its right, with a chain link fence at the corner After, 2019 View this photo larger
  4. Three courses of the brick close up in 2019, plum brown units with blue grey flashing at the ends and grey sanded mortar joints between them 2019 View this photo larger
  5. Four courses of the brick close up in 2019, the mortar joints an even grey tone beside the dark brown and blue grey faces 2019 View this photo larger

What nineteen years prove

The file is candid about the revisit: the lighting when we went back isn't the best, but it still has held up well. The close-ups carry the evidence. The joints read as an even grey inside the brick range, not as white lines. The form marks Platinum, twenty years and over, and was signed in 2020. As of 2026 the work is twenty-six years old.

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 081, transcribed beside the form so it can be read on a phone and by a search engine.

The case study form for case 081, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Mortar, Michigan (2000)
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 mason or contractor
Reason for project
Addition or makeover
Issue
"The mortar on the back of this building was too light."
What was corrected
"We darkened the mortar."
Storyline
"The lighting when we went back isn't the best, but it still has held up well!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020
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