The tan bark textured brick of the school in Western Springs in 2021, one range across the wall around a numbered door and a wall light
Case File 397

Blending Blotchy Tan Brick on a Western Springs School

The bark textured brick on this school went up with units that did not belong in the range, and the walls looked blotchy. The brick manufacturer paid to have a portion of the off color brick stained rather than replaced. It was photographed again eighteen years later and certified then.

Case No. 397
Structure School
Location Western Springs, Illinois
Stained July 2003
Re-photographed 2021
Elapsed 18 years, Gold level

2003

  1. The upper wall of the school in July 2003 under a grey sky, tan bark textured brick with scattered darker units reading as blotches above a tall mullioned window, with a camera date in the corner Before, 2003 View this photo larger
  2. The same wall in July 2003 with an extension ladder leaning against it beside the window, the scattered dark units now closer to the tan of the wall around them During, 2003 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Nothing had failed. A share of the brick delivered was off color and did not belong in the range, and spread through a bark textured wall those units made every elevation look blotchy. The manufacturer who made the brick hired the correction, not the school.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, on a portion of the off color brick only. The aim was not a new color but a better blend: pull the strays into the range the rest of the wall already carried, and let the bark texture read as texture again.

2021, eighteen years on

  1. An outside corner of the school in 2021 with snow on the ground, tan bark textured brick in one range around a door numbered 5, a wide mullioned window and a wall light, with the certification stamp in the corner After, 2021 View this photo larger

What eighteen years prove

One range across the wall, and the blotch gone. On the certification scale that is Gold, which covers fifteen years and over. As of 2026 the work is twenty-three years old, and the 2021 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 397, 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 397, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
School in Western Springs IL (2003)
Level
Gold. 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
"Off colored brick that did not belong in the range, and it made the walls look blotchy."
What was corrected
"Stained a portion of the off colored brick for a better blend."
Storyline
"A bark textured brick stained 18 years ago still looks great."
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2021
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