The hospital's buff brick wall in 2019, even in colour across the elevation
Case File 155

Darkening Light Zippers on a Pennsylvania Hospital

The brick on this hospital went up with zippers of light brick around the windows and doors. The company that made the brick paid to have them darkened rather than replaced. It was photographed again fifteen years later and certified then.

Case No. 155
Structure Hospital
Location Pennsylvania
Stained 2004
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 15 years, Gold level

2004

  1. A brick pier between two windows before the 2004 work, its pale surface heavily marked with white deposits Before, 2004 View this photo larger
  2. The window band during the 2004 work, the brick pier between the two window groups still lighter than the wall around it During, 2004 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The brick went up with what the file calls zippers of light brick around the windows and doors. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. The units around the openings did not agree with the wall they sat in.

It was hired by the brick manufacturer, not the hospital and not the mason. A brick company decided the colour of a finished building it had supplied was its own problem, and paid for staining over tear-out.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand. The file records the correction in one line: we darkened the light brick the best we could. The brick was extremely hard and had very low absorption, so the job went ahead without a warranty. Some of the earlier frames also show contamination where the walls had not been cleaned.

2019, fifteen years on

  1. Two storeys of buff brick on the hospital's rear elevation in 2019, with service doors along the ground floor 2019 View this photo larger
  2. Two rows of windows in the hospital's buff brick wall in 2019, the brick between them one consistent colour 2019 View this photo larger
  3. A narrow brick pier between two windows in 2019, its buff brick matching the wall on either side 2019 View this photo larger
  4. An outside corner of the hospital wall in 2019, the buff brick even in colour on both faces, with a fire department standpipe connection mounted at low level 15 Years After View this photo larger

What fifteen years prove

Same wall, same openings, and the brick around them still reads with the wall it sits in. On the certification scale that is Gold, which covers fifteen years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty-two 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 155, 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 155, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Hospital in PA (2004)
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
"The hospital had 'zippers' of light brick around the windows and doors."
What was corrected
"We darkened the light brick the best we could."
Storyline
"We are really surprised how well this staining has held up. For 15 years, this looks great! The brick were extremely hard and had very low absorbtion. Because of the low absorbtion of the brick, we could not warrenty this project. We did not know how long this would last. As you can see on some of the before pictures, the brick had contamination issues from where the walls were not cleaned. All things considered, we are happy with the result."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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