The main wall of the Old Hammond Building in 2019, its buff brick reading as one range across the whole elevation
Case File 043

Darkening Light Brick on the Old Hammond Building

Brick on a large part of the main wall of this downtown office went up too light. The mason and contractor hired the correction, and the pale units were darkened to meet the wall around them. It was photographed again eighteen years later and certified then.

Case No. 043
Structure Five-story office building
Location Hammond, Indiana
Stained July 2001
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 18 years, Gold level

2001

  1. The main wall in 2001, a wide pale block of brick running across two stories between the window bays against the darker brick around it Before, 2001 View this photo larger
  2. The building from across the street in 2001, five stories of buff brick with a boom lift raised to an applicator working the main wall During, 2001 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. The file puts it plainly: brick were off color on a large portion of the main wall. In the 2001 frame the pale run covers most of two stories between the window bays and is legible from the far pavement.

It was hired by the mason and contractor on the job, not the owner and not the brick company.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, and the correction ran one way. The file records that 100% of the light colored brick was darkened, bringing the pale run down to the units already around it rather than putting one color over the whole wall.

2019, eighteen years on

  1. The building in 2019 from across its parking lot, the main wall and the limestone corner tower with the storefront and the neighboring block beside them 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The main wall in 2019, the brick holding one buff range across every course between the window bays, the frame carrying the Brickman Certified stamp 18 Years After View this photo larger
  3. The corner of the building in 2019 from the parapet down, the cast stone tower on the left and four stories of stained brick running away from it 2019 View this photo larger

What eighteen years prove

Same wall, and the pale block that ran across it is gone. On the certification scale that is Gold, which covers fifteen years and over. The 2001 frames are scans of film and the 2019 frames are digital, so the two sets do not share a color cast; the block is the thing that is checkable across them. As of 2026 the work is twenty-five 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 043, 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 043, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Old Hammond Building (2001)
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
Mason or contractor
Reason for project
Other. The form's four boxes are complaint or problem, addition or makeover, color change and other, and the X is against other.
Issue
"Brick were off color on a large portion of the main wall."
What was corrected
"MCI darkened 100% of the light colored brick."
Storyline
"18 years later, the stained brick stiill look like the day we left! Another example of a stain that lasts!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
More Case Studies See all case studies →
The four-story office from across the street in 2019, one cream brick elevation under the Diocese of Grand Rapids lettering.

Darkening Light Corner Brick at the Grand Rapids Diocese
The corner of the school in 2019 with an entrance under the taller block behind it, the brick reading as one red and brown range along both walls

Darkening Light 8x8 Units on a Bluffton High School
The church across its parking lot in 2019, the gabled glazed nave on the left and a long brick wing running away to the right

Color Enhancing Light Brick and Mortar at St Francis

Your Project, Documented for Decades

Every job we stain enters the same discipline: photographed, revisited, re-photographed.

Request a Quote
Call Us Request a Quote