The front of the New Albany house in 2019, its jack arches reading a deeper red than the wall around them
Case File 283

Staining the Jack Arches on a New Albany Home

The jack arches over the windows on this house went up off-color, so a detail the mason had built read as part of the wall. The arches alone were stained in 2002, and photographed again seventeen years later.

Case No. 283
Structure Two-story house
Location New Albany
Stained 2002
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 17 years, Gold level

2002

  1. A brick jack arch over a window before staining, its angled units reading much the same warm orange as the wall around them Before, 2002 View this photo larger
  2. A brick jack arch over a window after staining, the angled units now a deeper red that separates the arch from the field brick After, 2002 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Nothing had failed. A jack arch is the flat span of angled brick set over an opening, and on this house the units in those arches did not match the color they were meant to be. The file puts it in six words: the jack arch shapes were off-colored.

The homeowner paid for it, not a builder and not a brick company.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, on the arch brick only. The field brick around them was left alone, which is why the arches now sit a shade deeper than the wall instead of disappearing into it.

2019, seventeen years on

  1. The front of the two-story brick house in 2019, jack arches over every window on both floors and a columned entry porch at the center 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The right-hand bay of the house in 2019, jack arches over the upper and lower windows with the certification stamp in the corner 17 Years After View this photo larger
  3. The house seen across its brick motor court in 2019, with a gas lamp post in the foreground and clipped hedges along the front 2019 View this photo larger
  4. The center bay in 2019, a pedimented window surround above the entry porch with jack arches over the windows on either side 2019 View this photo larger

What seventeen years prove

Seventeen years on, the arches still read as their own color against the wall around them. On the certification scale that is Gold, which covers fifteen years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty-four years old, and the 2020 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 283, 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 283, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Jack Arches (2002)
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
The homeowner
Reason for project
Color change
Issue
"The jack arch shapes were off-colored."
What was corrected
"We stained the jack arches to the color the homeowner desired."
Storyline
"The homeowner wanted the jack arches to stand out even more so that the special detail can be seen easier. We were happy to oblige!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020
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