The campus building in 2019, a long glazed elevation running above a red brick base with round brick columns
Case File 063

Color Enhancing Radial Brick at Western Michigan University

The radial brick on this campus building, and the walls between it, went up missing two of their colors. The brick manufacturer paid for the correction, not the university. The file certifies the work at twenty-five years.

Case No. 063
Structure University building
Location Kalamazoo, Michigan
Stained 1994
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 25 years, Platinum level

2001

  1. A glazed wing with a taller brick block behind it, a ladder standing against one of the round brick columns and a terrace rail above the brick base During, 2001 View this photo larger
  2. The brick wall under the terrace rail with a round brick column at the right, the glazed wall above it and lawn at its base 2001 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The file names it in the trade's own words: the radials and the walls in between were missing maroons and flashed colors, and some of the base color was too orange. Radial brick is the shaped unit that turns a curve, which on this building is every round column.

It was hired by the brick manufacturer, not the university and not the mason. The two frames above carry the camera's own 9/11/01 date stamp, seven years after the date on the form.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, unit by unit. The phrase in the file is color enhanced the brick to match the main building, so the target was a building already standing on the campus.

2019, twenty-five years on

  1. The long elevation in 2019, a continuous glazed wall over a red brick base and round brick columns, with a curving band of brick above it at roof level 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The stained wall in 2019 seen along its length to a round brick column, dark maroon units scattered through a red brick field above a stone bed 2019 View this photo larger
  3. Five brick at arm's length in 2019, four of them red and one a dark maroon stretcher, the mortar joints pale and the faces lightly textured 2019 View this photo larger
  4. The same wall closer in 2019, running to a round brick column of radial units, maroon and dark flashed brick set through the red field, the frame carrying the Brickman Certified stamp 25 Years After View this photo larger

What twenty-five years prove

The file records hard, smooth brick with low absorption, so most of the stain sits on the surface rather than soaking in. Twenty-five years on, the maroons and the flashed units are still in the wall. On the certification scale that is Platinum, which covers twenty years and over. As of 2026 the work is thirty-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 063, 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 063, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Western Michigan University (1994)
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
"The radials and the walls inbetween were missing “maroons” and “flashed” colors. Some of the base color was too orange."
What was corrected
"We color enhanced the brick to match the main building."
Storyline
"These were very hard smooth brick with low absorbtion. A majority of our stain is still on the “surface” (due to the low absorption), but it still looks like the day we left it in 1994. We have several closeups of stained brick from different areas of the building."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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