The front entry of a single-story brick home in 2019, the brick reading as one even color across the wall
Case File 003

Blending Off Colored Brick Across an Ohio Home

The brick on this single-story home went up off-color throughout. The company that made the brick paid to have it blended in 2002. It was photographed again seventeen years later, and the people living there did not know it had ever been stained.

Case No. 003
Structure Single-story brick home
Location Ohio
Stained 2002
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 17 years, Platinum level

2002

  1. The gable end of the house in 2002, its brick blotched with pale and dark units from the ground to the ridge During, 2002 View this photo larger
  2. The same gable end later in 2002, the brick now reading as one even blend across the whole wall After, 2002 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The file puts it in six words: off-colored brick throughout the house. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. The units did not agree with each other, wall to wall. It was hired by the brick manufacturer, not by the owner.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed into the brick by hand. The file records two recipes rather than one, mixed so the off units could be brought into the range of the ones around them instead of one flat color over the whole wall.

2019, seventeen years on

  1. The entry of the house in 2019, the brick around the front door and the front window reading as one even color 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The same gable end in 2019, the brick still reading as one even blend under the same louvred vent 17 Years After View this photo larger
  3. The front of the house in 2019, the gable end and the entry carrying the same brick color across the whole frontage 2019 View this photo larger

What seventeen years prove

Same gable end, same two windows, seventeen years apart. The line that matters is not about color at all: the new homeowners were shocked to find out that the house had once been stained. They couldn't tell the difference. The mark on the file is Platinum, twenty years and over on the certification scale, and as of 2026 the work is twenty-four years old.

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 003, transcribed beside the scan so it can be read on a phone and by a search engine.

The case study form for case 003, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Residence, Ohio (2002)
Level
Platinum. The scale runs Bronze at seven years and over, Silver at ten and over, Gold at fifteen and over, Platinum at twenty and over.
Hired by
The brick manufacturer
Cause
Complaint or problem
Background
"Off-colored brick throughout the house"
Actions taken
"We created two recipes for a better blend"
Detail of events
"When we went back in 2019, the new homeowners were shocked to find out that the house had once been stained. They couldn't tell the difference!"
Address
"Release permission required"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020
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