The brick elevation of the hospital in 2019, even in color above and below a cream precast screen wall
Case File 030

Spot Color Correcting Brick Around a Michigan Hospital

The brick on this hospital went up blotchy, with the color out of range in spots around the building. The mason hired the correction. It was photographed again twenty-one years later and certified then.

Case No. 030
Structure Hospital
Location Michigan
Stained 1998
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 21 years, Platinum level

1998

  1. The corner of the hospital in 1998, brick above and below a cream precast screen wall, the units running from pale tan to dark red through the courses Before, 1998 View this photo larger
  2. An applicator on a ladder working a panel of second storey brick on the hospital in 1998, the courses around him mixed red and pale tan 1998 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The brick went up blotchy, with color and consistency out of range in places. The file records the ask in one line: they wanted a better match in several areas (spots) around the hospital.

The mason hired the work, not the owner and not the brick company. A contractor decided the color of a finished wall was worth correcting rather than living with.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, unit by unit, and only in the areas that were out of range. The file is specific about the coverage inside those areas: we stained 100% of the brick in each spot. Everything else on the building was left as laid.

2019, twenty-one years on

  1. The hospital from the street in 2019, two storeys of brick over a cream precast screen wall, the brick holding one red range across both levels 2019 View this photo larger
  2. A panel of brick between precast piers on the lawn side of the hospital in 2019, the courses holding one red range, the frame carrying the Brickman Certified stamp After, 2019 View this photo larger
  3. The long brick wall along the kerb in 2019, its courses even in color past four louvre vents to the far corner 21 Years After View this photo larger

What twenty-one years prove

Same building, and stained areas that still sit inside the range of the brick around them. On the certification scale that is Platinum, the top band, which covers twenty years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty-eight 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 030, 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 030, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Hospital in Michigan (1998)
Level
Platinum, the top band. 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
Mason or contractor
Reason for project
Other. The form's four named reasons are complaint or problem, addition or makeover, color change and other; the X is against other.
Issue
"They wanted a better match in several areas (spots) around the hospital."
What was corrected
"We stained 100% of the brick in each spot."
Storyline
"The brick on the hospital are already blotchy and have other color/consitency issues. We were hired to only color correct a few spots around the hospital. 21 years later, our staining has held up great!"
Address
Withheld. The form's address line is printed "Permission needed to release address."
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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