The Richard A. Young Recreation Center from its parking lot in 2019, the brick reading as one warm red and tan range
Case File 272

Adding Bands of Contrast to the Richard A. Young Rec Center

Nothing on this Dearborn Heights, Michigan recreation center had failed. The customer wanted bands of contrast worked into the brick, and the work was done to a color they approved first. It was photographed again nineteen years later and certified then.

Case No. 272
Structure Municipal recreation center
Location Dearborn Heights, Michigan
Stained 2000
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 19 years, Gold level

2000

  1. The long name wall of the recreation center in 2000, one flat red brown across the whole elevation, with the building's cast lettering and two young trees in front Before, 2000 View this photo larger
  2. An interior brick column part way through the work, a Belden brick sample board on a stand beside it and scaffolding across the foreground During, 2000 View this photo larger

What was asked for

Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. The reason recorded on the file is a color change, and in its own words the customer wanted to add some bands in the wall. The file records the mason contractor as the hirer.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed into the brick by hand. The file puts it plainly: the brick was stained to match the sample approved by the customer, then bands were added to give the wall more contrast.

2019, nineteen years on

  1. The recreation center from its parking lot in 2019, the same name wall and the entrance canopy in warm red and tan brick under mature trees 2019 View this photo larger
  2. A brick pier beside the entrance doors in 2019, the courses shifting from lighter tan at the top to a deeper orange band lower down 19 Years After View this photo larger
  3. The glazed entrance in 2019, brick piers between the green framed doors in an even orange range, with the certification stamp in the corner 2019 View this photo larger
  4. Close view of the brick at unit scale in 2019, the faces running orange through red with pale mortar joints between them 2019 View this photo larger

What nineteen years prove

Same elevation, same cast lettering, and banding that still reads as banding. On the certification scale that is Gold, which covers fifteen years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty-six 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 272, 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 272, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
MI Rec Center (2000)
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 mason or contractor
Reason for project
Color change
Issue
"The customer wanted to add some bands in the wall."
What was corrected
"We stained the brick to match the sample approved by the customer."
Storyline
"This job was pretty simple, we matched the sample and added some bands to give the wall more contrast. It still looks great today!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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