The brick end wall of a Royal Vista apartment building in 2019, one even buff and tan range across the whole elevation
Case File 065

Blending Off Color Areas at Royal Vista Apartments

The brick on these apartment buildings went up with several off colored areas across the elevations. Areas were lightened and areas were darkened in 1998 to bring the wall into one range. The buildings were photographed again twenty-one years later.

Case No. 065
Structure Three-story apartment buildings
Location Michigan
Stained 1998
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 21 years, Platinum level

1998

  1. The brick end wall of an apartment building in 1998, the buff units running patchy and uneven between three stacked windows with teal shutters Before, 1998 View this photo larger
  2. The apartment complex under construction in 1998, one finished brick end wall beside a run of dormers and siding, with a pickup and bare ground in front During, 1998 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The brick did not agree with itself. The file records several off colored areas throughout the apartment buildings, on new construction, with nothing failed and nothing dirty. It is filed as a complaint.

Who paid is the one field the form does not settle. It is marked Other, not the owner, not the mason, not the brick supplier.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, unit by unit. Not one color over the wall: the file records areas lightened and areas darkened to create an acceptable blend, which is why the finished elevation still reads as a range of brick rather than a coat.

2019, twenty-one years on

  1. An apartment building at Royal Vista in 2019 seen across the lawn past a crabapple tree, its brick one even buff range with timber balconies down the right side 2019 View this photo larger
  2. A brick end wall at Royal Vista in 2019, the buff and tan units reading as one blend from the eaves down to the stone chippings 21 Years After View this photo larger
  3. An outside brick corner at Royal Vista in 2019, the blend carrying across both faces through a hard sunline halfway down the wall 2019 View this photo larger
  4. A brick end wall at Royal Vista in 2019 with the balconied wing running back behind it, the brick one buff and tan range across both 2019 View this photo larger

What twenty-one years prove

Same buildings, same brick, and a blend that is still the blend it was mixed to. The 1998 frames are film scans and the 2019 frames are digital, so the two sets differ in cast; what is checkable is that the patchiness is gone and has not come back.

On the certification scale that is Platinum, which covers twenty years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty-eight 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 065, 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 065, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Royal Vista (1998)
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
Other. The form's named categories, school or university, mason or contractor, brick manufacturer, homeowner, architect, brick distributor, business or corporation, are all left blank.
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Issue
"Several off colored areas throughout the apartment buildings."
What was corrected
"MCI lightened and darkened areas to create an acceptable blend."
Storyline
"Great before and after pictures in 1998 and afters in 2019. The stained brick looked great and the stain is holding up well!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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