An Ohio ranch house from the street in 2019, its brick one even red across the front
Case File 118

Taking Light Orange Brick to Red on an Ohio Ranch Home

A lot of the brick on this single-story house went up a light orange that did not match the brick around it. The company that made the brick paid to have those units stained rather than torn out. The house was photographed again twenty-three years later and certified then.

Case No. 118
Structure Single-story brick home
Location Ohio
Stained 1996
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 23 years, Platinum level

1996

  1. A brick wall beside an open doorway on an unfinished house in 1996, its units running from pale orange to red across the panel Before, 1996 View this photo larger
  2. A wide brick wall under a soffit in 1996, its pale orange units meeting a darker red return wall at the corner During, 1996 View this photo larger

What was wrong

A lot of the brick went up the wrong color. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty; the units did not agree with the ones around them. The file puts it in eight words: a lot of off colored light orange brick.

It was hired by the brick manufacturer, not the owner and not the mason. The company that made the brick decided the color of a finished house it had supplied was its own problem, and paid for staining over tear-out.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, unit by unit. Only the light orange units were touched. The file says they were changed to a darker orange/red to better match the surrounding brick, which is why the finished wall still reads as a range of brick rather than one flat color.

2019, twenty-three years on

  1. The single-story house from the street in 2019, one range of red brick running across the garage wing and the entry 2019 View this photo larger
  2. An outside corner of the house in 2019, sunlight across one face and the return wall in shadow, the brick one even red on both 2019 View this photo larger
  3. A carriage lamp on the brick beside the garage door in 2019, the units an even red from the soffit down to the flower bed 2019 View this photo larger
  4. Close view of three courses of the brick in 2019, the color even from face to face with pale mortar joints between 23 Years After View this photo larger

What twenty-three years prove

Same house, same brick, and the light orange units still sit inside the range of the ones around them. On the certification scale that is Platinum, which covers twenty years and over. As of 2026 the work is thirty 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 118, 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 118, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Residence in Ohio (1996)
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 brick manufacturer
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Issue
"A lot of off colored light orange brick."
What was corrected
"We stained the light orange brick and changed them to a darker orange/red to better match the surrounding brick."
Storyline
“This is a great example of "attention to detail". What a great match! We never say or sell "perfect", but this is as close as you could ever get to "perfect". 23 years later, it still looks fantastic!”
Address
"Permission needed to release address"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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