The front entry of the single-story house in 2019, its rock-faced tan brick running unbroken around the corner to the door
Case File 174

Toning Light Brick Darker on a Michigan Ranch House

The brick range on this single-story house included units that came out too light. The company that made the brick paid to bring them into line rather than leave the wall as delivered. It was photographed again eighteen years later and certified then.

Case No. 174
Structure Single-story home
Location Michigan
Stained July 2001
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 18 years, Gold level

2001

  1. Close view of the wall at a projecting brick pier in 2001, a drawn arrow marking a run of pale units among darker tan ones Before, 2001 View this photo larger
  2. The gable end of the house in 2001 with an extension ladder against the wall, the brick a pale buff under a brown shingle roof During, 2001 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. The wall was new, and the colour spread the brick arrived in was wider than the house could carry. The file puts it in ten words: some of the brick in the range were too light.

It was hired by the brick manufacturer, not the homeowner and not the mason. A brick company decided the range it had supplied was its own problem, and paid to correct the wall in place.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, on the pale units only. The file: we toned the lighter brick a few shades darker. The rest of the range was left alone, which is why the finished wall still reads as a range of tans and browns rather than one flat colour.

2019, eighteen years on

  1. The front entry in 2019, the rock-faced brick running from the window wall around the corner to the wood door as one tan range 2019 View this photo larger
  2. An outside corner of the house in 2019 with a round-headed window beyond, the brick an even tan range above a bed of phlox 2019 View this photo larger
  3. A round-headed window with a brick arch over it in 2019, the rock-faced brick around it reading as one tan and brown range 2019 View this photo larger
  4. Close view of the rock-faced brick in shade in 2019, the units reading as a close range of browns and tans with grey mortar 18 Years After View this photo larger

What eighteen years prove

Same house, same range, and the pale units still sit where they were toned to. On the certification scale that is Gold, which covers fifteen years and over. 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 174, 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 174, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Maceri Circle 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 brick manufacturer
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Issue
"Some of the brick in the range were too light."
What was corrected
"We toned the lighter brick a few shades darker."
Storyline
"The homeowner was unhappy with the amount of light brick included in the range so we darked the brick by a few shades."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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