The brick front of a two-story home in 2019, one even color across the wall under a row of shuttered windows
Case File 005

Blending Mismatched Brick Colors on a Sewickley Home

The brick on this two-story home went up in colors that did not match, wall to wall. The company that made the brick paid to have it blended in 2000. It was photographed again nineteen years later, and the people living there could not tell which brick had been stained.

Case No. 005
Structure Two-story brick home
Location Sewickley, Pennsylvania
Stained August 2000
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 19 years, Platinum level

2000

  1. The gable end and chimney of the house in 2000, the brick a cold blotched gray from the eaves down Before, 2000 View this photo larger
  2. The same gable end and chimney later in 2000, the brick now an even warm tan across both faces After, 2000 View this photo larger
  3. Three applicators on ladders working across the front of the two-story house, its brick still pale and blotched During, 2000 View this photo larger
  4. The front of the house in 2000 with the work finished, the brick reading as one even color across the main block and the wing After, 2000 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The brick arrived in more than one color and the house went up that way. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. The file puts it in eight words: there were color issues all over the house. The brick manufacturer paid for the correction, not the owner.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed into the brick by hand. Several recipes rather than one, some mixed to lighten brick and some to darken it, until the whole elevation read as a single blend. The file records that it took over a week.

2019, nineteen years on

  1. The house from the lawn in 2019, the brick carrying one even color from the entry across to the far wing 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The same gable end in 2019 seen from below, the brick still one even tone up to the chimney 19 Years After View this photo larger
  3. Close view of the blended brick in 2019, the units running through gray, cream and tan between pale mortar joints 2019 View this photo larger

What nineteen years prove

Same gable, same chimney, nineteen years apart. When the file was revisited in 2019 the people living in the house could not tell the stained brick from the unstained. The mark on the form is Platinum, which the certification scale sets at twenty years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty-six years old.

The signed file

Every certified job gets the same form, signed on the day someone goes back to the house. This is the one for case 005, transcribed beside the scan so it can be read on a phone and by a search engine.

The case study form for case 005, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Residence, Sewickley, Pennsylvania (2000). The form types the town "Sewlickley"; every interior page of the booklet heads it "Sewickley Residence (2000)".
Level
Platinum. The scale runs Bronze at seven years and over, Silver at ten and over, Gold at fifteen and over, Platinum at twenty and over.
Hired by
The brick manufacturer
Cause
Complaint or problem
Background
"There were color issues all over the house - what a mess!"
Actions taken
"We lightened and darkened brick; it took over a week to fix"
Detail of events
"We threw a lot of people at this job. Created several recipes to lighten and darken areas, creating a better overall blend. Looking at it 19 years later and still looks great!"
Address
"Release permission required"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020
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