The buff brick base course of an Ohio house in 2019, running past a side door as one even cream and tan range
Case File 255

Rust Spots and Dark Brick Lightened on an Ohio Home

Rust had marked some of the brick on this house and other units had come out far darker than the range around them. The company that made the brick paid to have both corrected in 2000. It was photographed again nineteen years later and certified then.

Case No. 255
Structure Two-story home, brick base course
Location Ohio
Stained Autumn 2000
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 19 years, Gold level

2000

  1. Close view of the brick before the work, most units a dark grey and one pale unit stained orange brown with rust Before, 2000 View this photo larger
  2. The patio wall part way through the work, a man standing beside a treated stretch of brick that reads lighter than the wall to his left During, 2000 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Two faults in one wall. Rust had marked some of the units, and others had fired far darker than the range they were meant to sit in. The file puts it in eleven words: there were rust spots and extremely dark brick in the range.

It was hired by the brick manufacturer. The company that made the brick treated the color of a finished house as its own problem and paid to correct it.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, over the rust spots and the dark units. Lightening brick is slow work: the file records that brick keeps lightening for a while after the stain goes on, so the shade has to be judged with the clock running. This job was booked for half a day, and the file says plainly that two days would have found a closer match.

2019, nineteen years on

  1. The side door and window of the house in 2019, the buff brick base course running under pale siding as one even range 19 Years After View this photo larger
  2. An inside corner of the patio in 2019 beside a window, the brick an even cream and tan range, with the certification stamp at the bottom right 2019 View this photo larger
  3. The same patio corner in 2019 with a shadow line falling across it, the brick reading as the same range in sun and in shade 2019 View this photo larger
  4. A long run of the brick base course in 2019 above a planted bed, the units an even cream and buff range under pale siding 2019 View this photo larger

What nineteen years prove

Same walls, and a range that still reads as one from the corner to the far end of the elevation. On the certification scale that is Gold, which covers fifteen years and over. The file does not claim the match was perfect. It says a longer booking would have got closer, and it still went back nineteen years later and signed for 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 255, 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 255, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
OH Residence (2000)
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 brick manufacturer
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Issue
"There were rust spots and exremely dark brick in the range."
What was corrected
"We stained the rust spots and the dark brick."
Storyline
"Lightening brick involves a lot of timing because it takes a while for the brick to fully lighten after the stain is applied. We have to wait to make sure the stain doesn't apply lighter than we intended. However, we were only hired for a half day, so we were not able to achieve the best possible match because we didn't have the time to wait and see if the shade was a great match. The stain is still holding up great, but if we were hired for two days instead of a half day we could have found an even closer match."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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