A fire station in St Clair, Michigan in 2019, its buff brick running one even color under a dark soffit
Case File 111

Lightening Dark Brick at the Top of a Fire Station Wall

Dark brick had been laid across the top part of the wall. The company that made the brick paid to have those units lightened in 1998. It was photographed again twenty-one years later and certified then, at the top of the scale.

Case No. 111
Structure Fire station
Location St Clair, Michigan
Stained 1998
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 21 years, Platinum level

1998

  1. A long brick wall in 1998 with a band of noticeably darker orange units running across the top courses under the eaves, the brick below it a paler buff During, 1998 View this photo larger
  2. The station's entrance door in 1998, the brick to the right of it a deeper orange than the paler buff brick on the left During, 1998 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Dark brick were layed at the top part of the wall. That is the issue in the file's own words. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty: a band of units near the top did not match the ones below it.

The brick manufacturer hired the job, not the department and not the mason. A brick company treated the color of a finished public building it had supplied as its own problem, and paid for staining over tear-out.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand. The correction in the file is five words: we lightened the dark brick. Complaint or problem is the box marked on the form and color change is not, so the work was a correction to the units that were wrong rather than a new color for the building.

2019, twenty-one years on

  1. The corner of the fire station in 2019, the brick running one even buff color from the ground to the eaves on both faces After, 2019 View this photo larger
  2. Two windows in the station's buff brick wall in 2019 behind a small ornamental tree, a fire department pickup reflected in the glass 2019 View this photo larger
  3. Close view of the buff brick at unit scale in 2019, a gas meter and riser mounted on the wall beside a downspout 2019 View this photo larger
  4. The tall end wall of the fire station in 2019, the course of upright brick near the top the same buff as the courses below it 21 Years After View this photo larger

What twenty-one years prove

Twenty-one years on, the top courses carry the same color as the brick beneath them. On the certification scale that is Platinum, which covers twenty years and over and is the top rung. The line in the file is shorter: 21 years later, still looks great today. 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 111, 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 111, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
St Claire Fire Station (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
The brick manufacturer
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Issue
"Dark brick were layed at the top part of the wall."
What was corrected
"We lightened the dark brick."
Storyline
"21 years later, still looks great today!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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