The dormered wing of the inn in 2019, its brick running as one warm range of buff, tan and dark units
Case File 203

Evening Out Brick Laid Too Light at the Morris Inn

The brick on this campus inn was laid too light. Darks were worked over the light units and then over the medium ones until the wall read as one range. It was photographed again nine years later and certified then.

Case No. 203
Structure Inn on a university campus
Location Indiana
Stained 2010
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 9 years, Bronze level

2010

  1. The four-story wing still under construction in 2010, its brick a pale buff with only a thin scatter of darker units under the row of dormers Before, 2010 View this photo larger
  2. An outside corner of the flat-roofed block in 2010, the brick a light yellow buff with cast stone window surrounds and a downpipe running the full height Before, 2010 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The brick went up too light. The file puts the issue in one line: the brick that were laid were too light. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty; the wall was paler than the building was meant to be.

The form marks the mason and contractor as the hirer. The storyline records the university setting the brief and the amount of wall it wanted touched.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, unit by unit. The light brick were taken to a middle tone first, then dark shades were added over the medium tone brick. The brief was 20% of the wall. The file records the finished figure at around 35%.

2019, nine years on

  1. The inn entrance in 2019 across a snow-covered forecourt, the name carved in the stone over the arch and the brick reading as one warm buff, tan and brown range up to the dormers After, 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The flat-roofed block in 2019 from the service yard, its brick a mixed range of buff, tan and dark units running across the blank wall and past the window bays 9 Years After View this photo larger

What nine years prove

Same building, same brick, and a range that is the range it was mixed to. On the certification scale that is Bronze, which covers seven to nine years. As of 2026 the work is sixteen 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 203, 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 203, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Basketball @ a University (2010)
Level
Bronze. 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 mason and contractor
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Issue
"The brick that were laid were too light."
What was corrected
"We added darks to the light brick to even out the tone."
Storyline
"The university hired us to stain 20% of the brick to compliment the building. To achieve what the university asked for we had to stain the light bricks a middle tone then add dark shades to the medium tone brick. By the end of the job we had stained around 35% of the brick."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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