The front wall of the West Bloomfield house in 2019, the brick running as one buff and gray range past an arched window and a bay
Case File 142

Correcting Discolored Brick on a West Bloomfield Home

The brick on this house went up discolored and blotchy. The company that made the brick paid to have the color corrected rather than have the wall torn off. It was photographed again twenty years later and certified then.

Case No. 142
Structure Two-story house
Location West Bloomfield, Michigan
Stained May 1999
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 20 years, Platinum level

1999

  1. The house from the street in 1999 while the work was under way, its brick reading gray and uneven across the near gable and the wing behind it During, 1999 View this photo larger
  2. Two ladders leaning on the front gable in 1999, the brick around the arched window blotchy in gray and tan During, 1999 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The house was new and the brick was not one color. Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty; the units did not agree with each other. The file puts it in seven words: discolored and blotchy brick on the residence.

It was hired by the brick manufacturer, not the homeowners and not the builder. A brick company decided the color of a finished house it had supplied was its own problem, and paid for staining over tear-out.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, unit by unit. The correction ran in both directions, which is the part people do not expect: the file records lightening some brick and darkening others until the wall read as one range.

2019, twenty years on

  1. The house from the front lawn in 2019 under mature trees, the brick holding one buff and gray range across the wing, the gables and the bay 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The side wall of the house in 2019 running the length of the frame, buff brick with scattered darker gray units under lap siding 2019 View this photo larger
  3. Looking steeply up an inside corner of the wall under a white soffit, the brick a pale gray and pink range with wide cream joints 2019 View this photo larger
  4. The front walk and entry steps in 2019, the brick under the bay window and beside the doorway holding the same buff and gray blend 20 Years After View this photo larger

What twenty years prove

Same house, same walls, and a blend that is the blend it was mixed to. On the certification scale that is Platinum, which covers twenty years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty-seven 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 142, 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 142, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
West Bloomfield 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 brick manufacturer
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Issue
"Discolored and blotchy brick on the residence."
What was corrected
"We lightened and darkened brick to create a better match."
Storyline
"20 years ago the homeowners trusted that our process would last. 20 years later, it still looks great!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
More Case Studies See all case studies →
The house from the front lawn in 2019, the brick reading as one even red range across the two-story block and the garage wing.

Darkening Light Brick on a Romeo Michigan Home
The front of the single-story house in 2019, red brick across both gables and the garage wing under a low grey roof

Toning Down Red Showing Through a Macomb Home
The arched brick entry and gable of a Brighton, Michigan house in 2019, a herringbone panel under the bay window and mature planting either side of the step

Toning Down Bright White Brick on a Brighton Home

Your Project, Documented for Decades

Every job we stain enters the same discipline: photographed, revisited, re-photographed.

Request a Quote
Call Us Request a Quote