The Pennsylvania house up its driveway in 2019, the garage wing and the main block one even red brick range
Case File 158

Correcting an Off Color Spot Over a Garage Door in Pennsylvania

One area of brick over the garage door came out the wrong color. The company that made the brick paid to have that spot corrected rather than replaced. The homeowners remembered the crew twenty years later, and the house was photographed again and certified.

Case No. 158
Structure Two-story brick home
Location Pennsylvania
Stained 1999
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 20 years, Platinum level

1999

  1. The house under construction in 1999, seen from the corner with ladders at the garage end and a van in the drive During, 1999 View this photo larger
  2. The garage gable end in 1999 with two ladders leaning against it, the new brick a warm red under a wood trimmed roof edge During, 1999 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The brick over the garage door came out a different color from the rest of the wall. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. The file puts it in seven words: off colored brick over the garage door.

The company that made the brick hired the job, not the family and not the builder, and paid to correct one patch rather than replace it.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, into the brick and the mortar. The file says the spot was color enhanced. It also records where the crew was sloppy: some of the mortar stain caught the edges of the brick.

2019, twenty years on

  1. The house seen up its driveway in 2019, the garage wing and the main block reading as one red brick range behind a mature maple 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The garage gable end straight on in 2019, two doors under a full height wall of red brick with pale mortar joints 20 Years After View this photo larger
  3. The garage gable seen at an angle in 2019, the brick above the door heads even in tone across the whole wall 2019 View this photo larger
  4. Close view of the brick above the garage doors in 2019, pale mortar stain visible along the edges of individual units 2019 View this photo larger

What twenty years prove

Same wall, same patch, and the stain on those brick edges still where it landed. On the certification scale that is Platinum, which covers twenty years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty-seven 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 158, 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 158, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
"PA Residence (1999)"
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
"Off colored brick over the garage door."
What was corrected
"We color enhanced the off colored spot."
Storyline
"The homeowners remembered us 20 years later! We stained the brick and mortar. You can see where we were “sloppy” and we got some of the “mortar” stain on the edges of the brick. 20 years later, it is still there! Project looks great!"
Address
"Permission needed to release address"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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