The front entrance of the Tennessee house in 2020, the brick beside the door and around the corner reading as one red range
Case File 332

Lightening Off Color Brick Spots on a Tennessee Home

A few of the bricks on this house came out of the kiln off color, the worst of them right beside the doorbell. The homeowner had those units stained to match the wall in 1999 rather than cut out. Photographed again in 2020 and certified then.

Case No. 332
Structure Single-family house
Location Tennessee
Stained 1999
Re-photographed 2020
Elapsed 21 years, Platinum level

1999

  1. The brick beside the front door in July 1999, a brass doorbell on the wall and several units reading grey and pink against the red around them Before, 1999 View this photo larger
  2. A run of brick beside a downspout in July 1999, with grey and salmon units standing out from the red brick around them Before, 1999 View this photo larger

What was wrong

A handful of units read grey and pink against the red of the wall, and the file singles out the run beside the doorbell at the front door. The other option was to cut those bricks out and lay new ones, which the file calls very costly.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, on the few areas that needed it. The file records the correction in one line: a few areas lightened to match the rest of the brick. The homeowner hired it, and the rest of the wall was left alone.

2020, twenty-one years on

  1. The front entrance in 2020, a dark wood door with a wreath and leaded sidelights, the brick beside it and around the corner in one red range, with the certification stamp in the corner After, 2020 View this photo larger

What twenty-one years prove

The same entrance in 2020, the brick beside the door and around the corner in one range. On the certification scale that is Platinum, the top level, which starts at twenty years. As of 2026 the work is twenty-seven 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 332, transcribed beside the scan.

Scan of the case study form for case 332, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Tennessee Residence (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 homeowner
Reason for project
Other
Issue
"There were a few off colored spots on the home, especially by the doorbell at the front door."
What was corrected
"We lightened a few areas to match the rest of the brick."
Storyline
"22 years ago, the homeowner contacted Masonry Cosmetics, and hired us to stain the brick. The other option for the homeowner was to have the off color bricks cut out of the wall and replaced, which is very costly. Staining is cheaper, and often looks better than replacing the brick! The job still look great today."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020
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Every job we stain enters the same discipline: photographed, revisited, re-photographed.

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