The corner of the university building in 2019, its brick reading as one tan and red range against a deep blue sky
Case File 267

Staining the Top of a Michigan University Wall to Match

The brick at the top of this campus building went up off-color on two ends. The mason contractor hired the correction, and the top of the wall was stained to match the bottom. It was photographed again fifteen years later and certified then.

Case No. 267
Structure University building
Location Michigan
Stained July 2004
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 15 years, Gold level

2004

  1. The top of a brick end wall in 2004, the band above the limestone course reading distinctly redder and darker than the brick below it Before, 2004 View this photo larger
  2. A brick end wall the next day in low evening sun, the band above the limestone course reading in the same tan range as the brick below it After, 2004 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The file puts it in six words: the customer wanted a closer match. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. On two ends of the building the brick at the top of the wall came out off-color against the rest of the range.

It was hired by the mason contractor, not the owner and not the brick supplier, and the reason recorded on the sheet is a color change rather than a complaint.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand. Only the off-color sections were touched. The phrase in the file is stained the top of the wall to better match the bottom of the wall, which is why the finished elevation still reads as a range of brick colors rather than one flat color.

2019, fifteen years on

  1. The corner of the university building in 2019, both brick elevations reading as one tan and red range up to the stone coping 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The upper wall in 2019 above a mature tree, the brick reading as one range from the limestone band to the coping 15 Years After View this photo larger
  3. Looking up the corner where the brick meets a cream panel volume, the limestone band and soldier course running across the wall 2019 View this photo larger
  4. The long blank elevation in 2019, the brick above the limestone band reading as one red and tan range 2019 View this photo larger

What fifteen years prove

The top of the wall still sits in the range it was stained to. 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 267, 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 267, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
MI State University (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
Mason or contractor
Reason for project
Color change
Issue
“The customer wanted a closer match.”
What was corrected
“We stained the top of the wall to better match the bottom of the wall.”
Storyline
“The top of the building on two ends were off-colored. We stained those sections to better match the rest of the range.”
Address
“Permission needed to release address”
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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