A band of the school's split face block wall in 2021, one pale range running past thin red brick banding courses
Case File 357

Lightening Split Face Block on a Zanesville High School

Split face block went up off color across the walls of a brand new high school. The block manufacturer hired the correction rather than have the units torn out. The wall was photographed again ten years later and certified then.

Case No. 357
Structure High school
Location Zanesville, Ohio
Stained May 2011
Re-photographed 2021
Elapsed 10 years, Silver level

2011

  1. The tall split face block wall in 2011, its grey block mottled dark and pale between thin red brick banding courses, with bare graded dirt at the foot Before, 2011 View this photo larger
  2. A block wall in 2011 seen along its length, red brick banding crossing split face block of uneven tone above a red brick base and bare dirt Before, 2011 View this photo larger
  3. Two workers in an orange boom lift raised against the block wall in 2011, an extension ladder standing on the dirt below them During, 2011 View this photo larger
  4. The block wall in 2011 reading as one pale range between its red brick bands, a brick classroom wing standing beyond it over open dirt After, 2011 View this photo larger
  5. A closer view of the wall in 2011, four red brick banding courses crossing pale split face block, with summer trees and a blue roof past the corner After, 2011 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The block was newly laid and already read off color throughout the wall. Some units sat darker than the rest, which across a wall this size shows as blotching through whole courses. The file records a complaint, and the block manufacturer as the party who hired the fix.

What was done

The dark block was lightened into the range of the block around it. The file puts the work at unit level, each block treated on its own rather than the elevation coated. Camera dates set the pace: the wall shot on 12 May 2011, the lift working it ten days later.

2021, ten years on

  1. The outside corner of the school in 2021, split face block holding one pale range across both elevations above a red brick base and grass 2021 View this photo larger
  2. The block wall in 2021 under an overcast sky, one even pale range above a red brick base, with an established grass slope run up to the foot of it After, 2021 View this photo larger
  3. The long elevation in 2021, red brick banding running across pale split face block to a lower brick wing at the right 10 Years After View this photo larger

What ten years prove

The wall holds one range, and the treated units do not pick out against the block beside them. The file makes that its point: without prior knowledge you would not know which blocks were stained. Ten years and over is Silver on the certification scale. As of 2026 the work is fifteen 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 357, transcribed beside the scan so it can be read on a phone and by a search engine.

The case study form for case 357, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
School, Zanesville, OH (2011)
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 block manufacturer
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Issue
"Off-colored block throughout the wall"
What was corrected
"We lightened the dark, off-colored block"
Storyline
"Some of the newly laid split face block on this brand new high school needed to be lightened. 10 years later and it still looks great!"
Address
Release permission required
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020
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