The corner bay of The Row in 2021, red brick reading as one range from the stone base up past the window bay
Case File 340

Blending Discolored Brick at The Row Apartments

Areas of discolored brick ran through this Tennessee apartment block. The company that made the brick paid for the correction rather than a tear out. The same walls were photographed again seventeen years later.

Case No. 340
Structure Four-story apartment block
Location Tennessee
Stained 2004
Re-photographed 2021
Elapsed 17 years, Gold level

2004

  1. The end wall in 2004, its red brick clouded with purple and pale patches across the courses above a parked pickup Before, 2004 View this photo larger
  2. The balcony courtyard in 2004, a man on an extension ladder at the foot of a brick pier below four levels of railings Before, 2004 View this photo larger
  3. Three applicators on extension ladders in 2004, working stain into the brick by hand beside the upper windows During, 2004 View this photo larger
  4. A side wall in 2004 after the blend, red brick even above and below a soldier course, with a bank of gas meters at grade After, 2004 View this photo larger
  5. The stepped parapet wall in 2004, the brick running as one range from the window bands up to the roofline against a blue sky After, 2004 View this photo larger
  6. The balcony courtyard in 2004 after the blend, two men standing on an upper deck and the brick even across the piers behind them After, 2004 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The file puts it in seven words: areas of discolored brick throughout the building. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. The units were in the wall and out of range with each other. The form has the X against Brick MFG, so the company that made the brick carried the cost, not the owner and not the mason.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, and the correction ran both ways. The phrase in the file is darkened and lightened bricks appropriately for a better blend. The evidence pages add the method: small areas tested first, then half of one brick stained beside its untouched half. The work took over a week.

2021, seventeen years on

  1. The corner bay of The Row in 2021, red brick carrying from a rusticated stone base past two levels of windows to dormers set in a slate roof, bare trees in front 2021 View this photo larger
  2. The same stepped parapet wall in 2021, the brick one red range from the stone base to the roofline with clipped shrubs planted below 17 Years After View this photo larger
  3. The balcony courtyard in 2021, red brick even across four levels of decks behind an iron fence and a dark metal carport 2021 View this photo larger

What seventeen years prove

Same walls, one range across each elevation. On the certification scale that is Gold, which covers fifteen years and over. The file is even handed about what was left alone: the mortar is a little off colored, but this is not something we were hired to fix. As of 2026 the work is twenty-two 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 340, 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 340, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Apartments, Tennessee (2004). The booklet headers and the folder tab name the building "The Row".
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
The brick manufacturer
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Issue
"Areas of discolored brick throughout the building"
What was corrected
"We darkened and lightened bricks appropriately for a better blend"
Storyline
"This project took over a week and a lot of finesse for the wall color to flow, but in the end it turned out great, and still looks good!"
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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