The gable wall of the Slippery Rock house in 2020, a tan and pink brick blend with the darker units sitting in the range beside a tall window
Case File 347

Lightening Dark Red Brick on a Slippery Rock House

Too many dark red brick were showing through the blend on this house. The brick manufacturer paid to have the dark units lightened in 2008. It was photographed again twelve years later and certified then.

Case No. 347
Structure Two-story house
Location Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania
Stained April 2008
Re-photographed 2020
Elapsed 12 years, Silver level

2008

  1. The gable end of the house in April 2008 before staining, a tan and pink brick blend with many dark red units standing out across the wall, the windows still carrying their factory labels and bare ground below Before, 2008 View this photo larger
  2. The same gable in April 2008 after the dark units were lightened, the blend reading more evenly around the round vent and the two windows, with an extension ladder and a work van at the right After, 2008 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Too many dark red brick showing through, in the file's words. The blend runs tan and pink, and the dark units landed in enough numbers to read as a pattern of their own across the gable. Nothing had failed. The brick manufacturer hired the correction, not the homeowner.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, unit by unit. The dark brick were lightened into the range around them; the wall was not recolored. The file calls it a good example of lightening the dark brick for a better match. Both 2008 frames carry the same camera date, April 22.

2020, twelve years on

  1. The gable wall in 2020, the brick one blend from the tall window down to the planting bed, a garden statue in the mulch and the certification stamp in the corner After, 2020 View this photo larger

What twelve years prove

Same gable, same round vent, same pair of windows, and the lightened units have held their range. On the certification scale that is Silver, ten years and over. As of 2026 the work is eighteen years old, and the 2020 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 347, 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 347, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Slippery Rock Residence (2008)
Level
Silver. 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
Color change
Issue
"There were too many dark red brick showing through."
What was corrected
"We lightened the dark brick."
Storyline
"A good example of lightening the dark brick for a better match."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020
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