The plaza from the car park in 2019, the upper wall and the storefront piers holding one tan and red range
Case File 131

Darkening the Upper Wall of a Michigan Retail Plaza

The brick above the shopfront canopies on this plaza went up lighter than the brick below them. A business paid to have the light units darkened rather than cut out. It was photographed again fifteen years later and certified then.

Case No. 131
Structure Two-story retail plaza
Location Michigan
Stained October 2004
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 15 years, Gold level

2004

  1. An applicator on an extension ladder at the top of the wall in 2004, the brick above the canopy a pale washed tan against the deeper red of the courses below it and of the pier alongside During, 2004 View this photo larger
  2. An applicator working from a boom lift along the upper wall of the plaza in 2004, a darkened patch of brick beside him against the lighter wall still to be reached During, 2004 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The wall came out in two tones. The brick at the piers and below the canopy line read a deep red; the brick above it read pale tan. The file puts it in twelve words: the brick in the upper part of the wall were too light.

A business paid for it, not the mason and not the brick company. The reason recorded on the form is a color change, not a complaint.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, unit by unit, and only where the brick was out of range. The phrase in the file is we darkened the light brick in the wall. The two 2004 frames are stamped 10 26 04 and 10 27 04, a boom lift on the first day and a ladder on the second.

2019, fifteen years on

  1. The plaza from the car park in 2019, lit tenant signs across the storefronts and the upper wall above them holding the same tan and red range as the piers at ground level 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The same elevation looked along in 2019, the upper wall and the storefront brick reading as one range from the near pier to the far end of the block, the frame carrying the Brickman Certified stamp After, 2019 View this photo larger
  3. The upper wall in 2019 looked at from directly below, the courses running unbroken past a control joint to the coping, with the edge of a shopfront sign at the left 2019 View this photo larger
  4. Five stained units at close range in 2019, the color sitting in the face of the brick with the fired speckle and the pitting still reading through it, mortar joints clean 15 Years After View this photo larger

What fifteen years prove

Same wall, and the two tones now read as one. The line in the file is that fifteen years later you cannot tell the brick were ever too light, or even stained. On the certification scale that is Gold, which covers fifteen years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty-two 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 131, 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 131, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Plaza in Michigan (2004)
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
Business or corporation
Reason for project
Color change
Issue
"The brick in the upper part of the wall were too light."
What was corrected
"We darkened the light brick in the wall."
Storyline
"15 years later you cannot tell the brick were ever too light, or even stained! Looks great!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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