The upper floors of the college building in 2019, tan brick running across the tower and the wing beside it
Case File 164

Matching One Floor of Off Run Brick on a Pittsburgh College

One floor of this college building went up in a run of brick that did not match the rest. The company that made the brick paid to have that floor corrected rather than replaced. It was photographed again seven years later and certified then.

Case No. 164
Structure College building
Location Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Stained 2012
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 7 years, Bronze level

2013, mid-job

  1. Three floors of the college building seen from a suspended swing stage in 2013, the brick a pink brown, with paper floor markers taped inside the windows During, April 2013 View this photo larger
  2. An oblique close view of the wall in 2013, its brick a pale tan with cast stone sills and a soldier course, a paper floor marker taped inside the window During, April 2013 View this photo larger

What was wrong

One floor went up in brick that did not match the floors under it. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. The file puts it in one line: the 7th floor of the building was built with an off run of brick.

It was hired by the brick manufacturer, not the college and not the mason. A brick company decided one bad run on a building it had supplied was its own problem, and paid for staining over tear-out.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, unit by unit, and only on the floor that was off. The correction ran both ways: lighten and darken a majority of the brick, until that floor sat in the range of the floors around it. The file dates the project 2012, and both mid-job frames are stamped April 2013, so the work was still running that spring.

2019, seven years on

  1. The college building from the courtyard in 2019, a tan brick tower rising above a lower brick wing behind an iron railing After, 2019 View this photo larger
  2. A tall glazed bay with cast stone mullions set between two brick wings of the college, the brick either side an even buff and tan 2019 View this photo larger
  3. An outside corner of the college in 2019, a broad blank brick wall running up to a cast stone band, the brick an even warm tan across both faces 2019 View this photo larger
  4. The inside corner of the college courtyard in 2019, one wing in warm tan brick and the wing beside it in pale buff, both running the full height of the frame 7 Years After View this photo larger

What seven years prove

Same building, same floor, and a run that still sits in the range it was brought into. On the certification scale that is Bronze, which covers seven to nine years. As of 2026 the work is fourteen 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 164, transcribed beside the scan so it reads on a phone and in a search engine.

Scan of the case study form for case 164, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
College in Pittsburgh (2012)
Level
Bronze. 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 7th floor of the building was built with an off run of brick."
What was corrected
"We had to lighten and darken a majority of the brick."
Storyline
"The 7th floor had an off run of brick that did not match the other floors. We only stained the 7th floor, and it still looks great today."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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