The Sterling Heights house from the driveway in 2019, its brick one even tan and brown range across the gable end and the garage bays
Case File 098

Lightening Red Body Clusters on a Sterling Heights Home

The brick on this two-story house showed its red body through in patches and clusters. The company that made the brick paid to have those areas lightened. It was photographed again twenty-two years later and certified then.

Case No. 098
Structure Two-story house
Location Sterling Heights, Michigan
Stained October 1997
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 22 years, Platinum level

1997

  1. An outside corner of the house in 1997, the brick pale and washed out with darker red bodied units scattered through it in clusters Before View this photo larger
  2. The front of the two-story house in 1997, its brick a warm tan across the steep gables, the bay window and the tall arched entry During, 1997 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The red body of the brick was showing through the face in patches. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. The file records it in one line: a percentage of the brick's red body was showing through in different areas.

It was hired by the brick manufacturer, not the homeowner. The homeowner was fine with a few bricks showing their body color. What the file says was not fine was the large groups and clusters around the house.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, unit by unit. The dark areas were lightened and broken up rather than covered over, so the wall keeps a range of colors instead of turning into one flat one. The phrase in the file is: we lightened the red areas.

2019, twenty-two years on

  1. The house seen from the driveway in 2019, its brick one even tan and brown range across the gable end and the three garage bays 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The long side wall of the house in 2019, an even range of tan, cream and brown units running back to the arched window in the gable 22 Years After View this photo larger
  3. An outside corner beside the garage in 2019, the brick evenly blended on both faces below a carriage lamp 2019 View this photo larger
  4. The gable and the arched entry seen from below in 2019, the brick an even tan and brown range, the Brickman certified stamp in the corner of the frame After, 2019 View this photo larger

What twenty-two years prove

Same house, same brick, and a wall that still carries the range it was corrected to. On the certification scale twenty years and over is Platinum, and this file was signed at twenty-two. As of 2026 the work is twenty-nine 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 house. This is the one for case 098, 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 098, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Sterling Heights (1997)
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
“A percentage of the brick's red body was showing through in different areas.”
What was corrected
“We lightened the red areas.”
Storyline
“We lightened and broke up most of the dark areas where the red body color was showing through. The homeowner was "ok" with a few bricks showing the body color, but did not like the large groups or clusters around the house.”
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
Address
“Permission needed to release address”
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