A single-story bank in South Bend in 2019, its brick one dark red brown under a blue barrel canopy
Case File 020

Staining Smooth Brick to Match a Sand Wirecut Wall

The brick that went up on this bank was picked to match brick that was already there, and it did not: a smooth face against a sand wirecut face. The business that owns the building paid to have the discolored brick stained to a closer match. It was photographed again eighteen years later and certified then.

Case No. 020
Structure Single-story bank
Location South Bend, Indiana
Stained 2001
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 18 years, Gold level

2000 to 2001

  1. A long wall before staining, panels of pale red and buff brick set into a field of near black brick around boarded openings Before, 2000 View this photo larger
  2. The bank's front elevation in 2001 under its blue barrel canopy, the brick reading as one dark red brown across the wall After, 2001 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Two brick on one building that were never going to agree. The contractor picked a smooth texture brick to sit against a sand wirecut texture, and the file records the result in five words: they needed a better match.

The business that owns the building paid for the correction. Not the mason and not the brick manufacturer: the form's Hired By line reads business or corporation.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, unit by unit. The file records the scope in seven words: we stained all of the discolored brick. Color is what stain moves, not texture, so the smooth face is still a smooth face. From the parking lot the wall reads as one brick.

2019, eighteen years on

  1. The same front elevation in 2019, the brick still reading as one dark red brown from across the parking lot 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The display case and night deposit bay under the canopy in 2019, the brick running one color across the wall on both sides of the opening 2019 View this photo larger
  3. Close view of the wall at the line where two brick faces meet, the texture changing from sanded to smooth while the color runs straight across the join 18 Years After View this photo larger

What eighteen years prove

Same building, photographed again in 2019 and signed off that year. On the certification scale that is Gold, which covers fifteen years and over. The close view is the one that carries it: two textures still meet on that wall, and the color runs straight across the join between them. As of 2026 the work is twenty-five 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 020, 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 020, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Bank in South Bend (2001)
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
A business or corporation
Reason for project
Other. The three named boxes on the sheet, complaint or problem, color change, and addition or makeover, are all left unmarked.
Issue
"They needed a better match."
What was corrected
"We stained all of the discolored brick."
Storyline
"Size and texture are important. The contractor used a smooth texture brick to match a sand wirecut texture. This was a bad match, so they hired us to get a closer match. 18 years later, still looks great!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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Every job we stain enters the same discipline: photographed, revisited, re-photographed.

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