The apartment block in 2019 seen from below, its brick one even buff under a deep concrete cornice
Case File 008

Changing the Color of the Brick Bands on a DC Apartment Block

The owner of this apartment block wanted the building livened up. Nothing had failed. Every brick in the bands was color corrected in 2011, photographed again eight years later and certified then.

Case No. 008
Structure Apartment building
Location Washington, DC
Stained November 2011
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 8 years, Bronze level

2011

  1. The apartment building from below in 2011, its brick brown-tan at the base and running through a wide band of paler units across the upper floors, under a pedimented gable Before, 2011 View this photo larger
  2. Two applicators in hard hats on a suspended work platform, working across the brick of the top floors below the gable During, 2011 View this photo larger

What was wanted

Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. The file records the reason in nine words: the customer wanted to liven the building up a bit. A business paid for it, not a homeowner and not the mason, and the form calls it a color change rather than a complaint.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, unit by unit. The line in the file is 100% of the brick in the bands, so every unit inside them was worked rather than a few here and there.

2019, eight years on

  1. The apartment block from the ground in 2019, its brick holding one buff range across every floor beneath a deep concrete cornice 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The top of the building in 2019, a deep concrete canopy carried over the upper floor windows with brick piers and cast panels beneath it 2019 View this photo larger
  3. The long elevation from across the street in 2019, a street tree in front of it and the brick reading as one range from the near corner to the far end 8 Years After View this photo larger
  4. Two window bays in 2019 above a clipped hedge, the brick even from the barred ground floor windows to the top of the frame, which carries the Brickman Certified stamp After, 2019 View this photo larger

What eight years prove

Eight years is Bronze on the certification scale, the band that runs seven to nine. The file is plain about what did not go to plan: an acid reaction in a few areas kept the stain from absorbing the way it was meant to. The storyline still ends with the stain holding up well. As of 2026 the work is fifteen 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 008, 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 008, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Apartments in Washington DC (2011)
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
Business or corporation
Reason for project
Color change
Issue
"Customer wanted to liven the building up a bit."
What was corrected
"We color corrected 100% of the brick in the bands."
Storyline
"We had experianced acid reaction in a few areas and our stain was not able to absorb like we wanted, but overall the stain has held up well."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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