The long brick wing of the Middleville church in 2019, its brick one even red brown from end to end
Case File 201

Staining a Middleville Church One Color After an Addition

A small addition on the back of this church went up in brick that did not match the original. Rather than patch the join, all of the brick was stained one color. It was photographed again twenty-two years later and certified then.

Case No. 201
Structure Church
Location Middleville, Michigan
Stained July 1997
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 22 years, Platinum level

1997

  1. The church wing from the parking lot before staining, its brick a bright orange red with darker red panels set between the windows Before, 1997 View this photo larger
  2. The same wing after staining, the brick and the panels between the windows now reading as one deep red brown, with the sanctuary gable and white steeple at the right After, 1997 View this photo larger

What was wrong

A small addition had been built on the back of the church, and the brick it went up in did not match the brick already there. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. The two brick types simply did not agree.

What was done

The correction line in the file is six words: we stained 100% of the brick. Mineral stain across the whole elevation, not a patch at the join. That is why the pair above changes along the full length of the wing rather than at one seam.

2019, twenty-two years on

  1. The same elevation in 2019, the long wing and the sanctuary gable reading as one even red brown under an overcast sky, with a covered drop-off at the far end 22 Years After View this photo larger

What twenty-two years prove

Same elevation, same parking lot, and still one brick color across the original building and the addition. On the certification scale that is Platinum, which covers twenty years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty-nine 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 201, 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 201, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Middleville Church (1997)
Level
Platinum. 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
Other. The form's named categories, school or university, mason or contractor, brick manufacturer, homeowner, architect, brick distributor and business or corporation, are all left blank.
Reason for project
Addition or makeover
Issue
"The customer wanted a brick color that matched the rest of their house."
What was corrected
"We stained 100% of the brick."
Storyline
"There was a small addition built on the back of the church and the brick that was used did not match the original brick. We stained this church 22 years ago and it still looks great today."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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