The brick around the double window on the Waterford house in 2020, one light range with navy shutters either side
Case File 346

Lightening Dark Brick and Headers on a Waterford Home

Areas of dark brick and dark headers on this house did not match the range of the wall around them. The company that made the brick paid to have the dark units lightened rather than replaced. It was photographed again twelve years later and certified then.

Case No. 346
Structure Single-family home
Location Waterford, Pennsylvania
Stained July 2008
Re-photographed 2020
Elapsed 12 years, Silver level

2008

  1. The double window on the Waterford house on 21 July 2008, light brick with a course of dark red-brown headers under the sill and scattered dark units in the wall, navy shutters either side Before, 2008 View this photo larger
  2. The same window later on 21 July 2008, the course under the sill lightened to sit inside the range of the wall, the shutters and the camera date unchanged After, 2008 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The wall went up with areas of dark brick and dark headers that did not match the brick range. The file records it as a complaint, and the company that made the brick, not the homeowner, hired the correction.

What was done

Mineral stain, applied to the dark units to lighten them into the range of the wall. The file calls it a good example of lightening a darker brown brick. Both 2008 frames carry the same camera date, 21 July 2008: the before and the after are the same window on the same day.

2020, twelve years on

  1. The gable end of the house in 2020 with snow on the lawn, one range of light brick from the peak to the course under the double window, and the certification stamp in the corner After, 2020 View this photo larger

What twelve years prove

The gable end in 2020, the course under the window and the wall above it holding one range. On the certification scale that is Silver, ten years and over. As of 2026 the work is eighteen 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 346, 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 346, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Waterford PA (2008)
Level
Silver. 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 dark brick and dark headers that did not match the brick range."
What was corrected
"We lightened the dark brick."
Storyline
"A good example of the lightening a darker brown brick. It still looks great 13 years later!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020
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