A glass block window set in the church's stained brick in 2019, the units around it reading as one even orange range
Case File 246

Staining Brick and Mortar on an Ohio Church

The brick on this church needed a closer match. The file records a one day job in 1998 to stain both the brick and the mortar. It was photographed again twenty-one years later and certified then.

Case No. 246
Structure Church
Location Ohio
Stained August 1998
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 21 years, Platinum level

1998

  1. A courtyard wall in 1998, a broad panel of pale brick sitting inside the surrounding orange field, with glass block windows and a stone seat wall below Before, 1998 View this photo larger
  2. An applicator working the courtyard elevation from a low stool in 1998, the two-story brick wing rising above a paved garden During, 1998 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. The file puts the job in one line: the brick was to be stained for a closer match. In the 1998 frame a broad panel of pale brick sits inside the orange field around it.

It was hired by the mason or contractor, which is the box marked on the form.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, over one day. Both surfaces went in: the file records the brick and the mortar, not the brick alone. Staining the joints as well as the units is what lets a patched wall read as one wall rather than as a repair.

2019, twenty-one years on

  1. A glass block window set in the church's brick in 2019, the wall around it reading as one even orange range from sill to soldier course 2019 View this photo larger
  2. Brick beside a glass block window in 2019, a clematis climbing the wall at the left 2019 View this photo larger
  3. A wooden lattice cross fixed to the church's brick wall in 2019, planting grown up around its foot 21 Years After View this photo larger
  4. Close view of the brick and mortar in 2019, the sanded units an even tan brown with pale joints running between them 2019 View this photo larger

What twenty-one years prove

No pale panel, and a wall that reads as one range. On the certification scale that is Platinum, which covers twenty years and over. The file is candid about the one thing that did move: the mortar may have lightened a little since it was stained. The brick did not. As of 2026 the work is twenty-eight 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 246, 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 246, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
OH Church (1998)
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
The mason or contractor
Reason for project
Other. The form's four named reasons, complaint or problem, color change, addition or makeover, are all left unmarked.
Issue
"We were hired to stain the brick for a closer match."
What was corrected
"We stained the brick and mortar."
Storyline
"This was a quick, one day job where we stained the brick and the mortar. The brick staining still looks great and the customer is remains very happy with our work. We noticed the mortar may have lightened a bit since we stained it but the project overall looks great."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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Every job we stain enters the same discipline: photographed, revisited, re-photographed.

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