The brick entrance block of the college building, its wall reading as one even red across every course
Case File 060

Repairing Pressure Washer Damage on an Ohio College

Cleaning went wrong on this college building: a pressure washer wand etched the face of the brick. The mason or contractor hired the correction in 2010. It was photographed again ten years later and certified then.

Case No. 060
Structure College building
Location Ohio
Stained 2010
Re-photographed 2020
Elapsed 10 years, Silver level

2010

  1. A ladder leaning on the brick corner of the building during the work, a paler washed panel of brick running across the face beside it During, 2010 View this photo larger
  2. The same brick block from the site fence when the work was finished, the wall holding one red range from the parapet to the ground After, 2010 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The brick was cleaned with a pressure washer and the wand cut into the face. The file records it in one line: pressure washer / wand damage that etched the surface of the brick.

The mason or contractor hired the correction, not the college and not the brick company.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, over the damaged areas only. The phrase in the file is color enhanced the damaged areas. The file is equally plain about the limit: staining cannot put back the sand and material the pressurized water took off the face. What it corrects is what you can see.

2020, ten years on

  1. The glazed entrance and its brick block on a winter morning, snow on the paving, the brick reading as one red range across both faces, the frame carrying the Brickman Certified stamp 10 Years After View this photo larger
  2. Looking up a brick pier between two glazed bays to a green standing seam fascia over a pale soffit After View this photo larger
  3. A long blank stretch of the brick wall meeting a return wall above a mulch bed, every course reading in the same red range After View this photo larger

What ten years prove

Same building, ten years on, and the corrected areas still read with the wall around them. On the certification scale that is Silver, which covers ten years and over. As of 2026 the work is sixteen 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 060, 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 060, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
College in OH (2010)
Level
Silver. 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
Complaint or problem
Issue
"Pressure washer / wand damage that etched the surface of the brick."
What was corrected
"We color enhanced the damaged areas."
Storyline
"Care must be taken when using a pressure washer to clean brick. While staining can't replace the sand and materials lost to the pressurized water, it can make the aesthetic problems disappear. This job still looks great today!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020
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