The Michigan house in 2019, its brick an even red range in summer sun above a round window set in a radial brick surround
Case File 220

Staining Brick and Mortar to Match a Michigan Addition

The homeowners had put an addition on the house and wanted its brick to match what was already standing. The brick and the mortar were stained in the winter of 2012 to bring the two together. It was photographed again seven years later and certified then.

Case No. 220
Structure Two-story home
Location Michigan
Stained December 2012
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 7 years, Bronze level

2012

  1. The rear of the house on a bare winter day with an extension ladder against the wall and green tape masking the edge of the brick being worked on During, 2012 View this photo larger
  2. The same outside corner of the house later that winter, the brick on both faces reading as one red range with the round window at the left edge After, 2012 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Nothing had failed. The house had gained an addition, and new brick beside older brick did not agree. The file puts the ask in the homeowners' own terms: a better matching brick for the addition of their home. They hired the job themselves, and the reason on the file is an addition or makeover rather than a complaint.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed in by hand, on the brick and the mortar both. The file is exact about the correction: the brick and mortar were stained to match the original brick. The camera date on the working frame is the third of December, and the file makes a point of the season, calling it a job that pushed the product's limits.

2019, seven years on

  1. The house from the garden in summer sun in 2019, its brick an even red across every face, with a round window in a radial brick surround and a timber covered porch to the right 7 Years After View this photo larger

What seven years prove

Seven years on, the addition and the house it was added to read as one wall. On the certification scale that is Bronze, which covers seven to nine years. As of 2026 the work is fourteen 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 220, 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 220, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
MI Residence Addition (2012)
Level
Bronze. 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 homeowner
Reason for project
Addition or makeover
Issue
"The homeowners wanted a better matching brick for the addition of their home."
What was corrected
"We stained the brick and mortar to match the original brick."
Storyline
"We pushed our products limits with this job, staining during winter in Michigan and it still turned out well."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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Every job we stain enters the same discipline: photographed, revisited, re-photographed.

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