The brick fascia of the academy's entrance canopy in 2019, its courses reading as one even buff range against open sky
Case File 136

Darkening Hard Brick Areas at Tech Academy in Michigan

Several areas of brick on this academy needed darkening. The file calls it one of the hardest bricks ever made, which limits what a stain can do, so the work was tinting rather than a color change. It was photographed again twenty years later and certified Platinum.

Case No. 136
Structure Academy
Location Michigan
Stained 1999
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 20 years, Platinum level

1999

  1. An applicator on a ladder working the brick under the entrance canopy in 1999, a maroon steel column and beam framing the recessed wall During, 1999 View this photo larger
  2. The blank buff brick end wall of the academy in 1999, with a tracked loader and two workers standing at the foot of it During, 1999 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. The file records the issue in seven words: several areas needed to be darkened slightly.

The brick manufacturer hired the job, not the school and not the mason. The company that made the brick treated the color of a finished building it had supplied as its own problem.

What was done

Some areas were darkened to better blend the wall. The file is direct about the limit: this is one of the hardest bricks ever made, and the process cannot absorb into its surface. The phrase in the file is "we can tint, but cannot do major color changes."

2019, twenty years on

  1. The underside and brick fascia of the entrance canopy in 2019, the courses running unbroken into the wing beyond it 2019 View this photo larger
  2. Looking up through the canopy openings in 2019, brick soffits and wall panels framing rectangles of sky beside a maroon column 2019 View this photo larger
  3. Close view of an outside brick corner in 2019, the units an even buff and tan with recessed grey mortar joints 2019 View this photo larger
  4. Two brick wall planes meeting at an inside corner in 2019, under a projecting canopy beam and a cylindrical light fitting 20 Years After View this photo larger

What twenty years prove

Same brick, twenty years on, and the file records it still holding up well. On the certification scale that is Platinum, which covers twenty years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty-seven 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 136, 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 136, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Tech Academy (1999)
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
"Several areas needed to be darkened slightly."
What was corrected
"We darkened some areas to better blend the wall."
Storyline
"This is one of the hardest bricks ever made. Our process cannot get embedded/absorbed into the surface of the brick. Even with the low absorbtion capabilities of this brick, our product is still the best and safest choice. 20 years later, it is still holding up well. On hard brick like these, we can tint, but cannot do major color changes."
Address
Withheld. The form's address line reads "Permission needed to release address."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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