The Gateway entrance in 2019, banners and a tenant directory standing in front of buff brick that reads as one even range
Case File 154

Breaking Up Blotchy Walls at Gateway in Toledo Ohio

The brick on this building went up with large blotchy patches across the walls. The company that made the brick paid to break the patches up in 2012, and the file is unusually plain that the wall was never going to be rebuilt. It was photographed again seven years later and certified then.

Case No. 154
Structure Three-story university building
Location Toledo, Ohio
Stained 2012
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 7 years, Bronze level

2012

  1. The blank end wall of the building in 2012, its buff brick carrying broad darker and lighter patches across three storeys Before, 2012 View this photo larger
  2. An outside corner of the same brick at close range in 2012, individual units in mixed creams, tans and pinks with pale mortar joints During, 2012 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The file puts it in six words: they had large blotchy brick walls. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty; the wall was new and the units did not agree with each other across whole storeys. The Hired by line reads brick manufacturer, so the company that made the brick paid to put it right.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed into the brick by hand, unit by unit. The correction line reads: we lightened and darkened brick in the wall. Two directions at once, not one tone across the elevation. The file is unusually plain about the brief, which was to break up some of the large spots rather than to rebuild anything, and it records an acid reaction from improper cleaning dealt with along the way. A day or two on site.

2019, seven years on

  1. The corner of the Gateway building in 2019, its buff brick reading as an even range from the plaza up past three floors of windows, with the entrance canopy, the banners and the tenant directory in front of it 7 Years After View this photo larger

What seven years prove

The mark on the file is Bronze, which covers seven to nine years on the certification scale. Seven years after the work the wall still reads as a range of brick rather than as large flat patches, and the file closes on the job being nothing short of successful. As of 2026 the work is fourteen 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 154, 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 154, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
University in Ohio (2012)
Level
Bronze. 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
Issues
"They had large blotchy brick walls."
What was corrected
"We lightened and darkened brick in the wall."
Storyline
"We were hired to just break up some of the large spots in the wall. We were not hired to fix the wall, just make it 'less noticable'. We only put a day or two into this project, and did deal with acid reaction (due to improper cleaning). All things considered, this project was nothing short of successful!"
Address
"Permission needed to release address"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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