Brick & Masonry Staining in Columbus Color That Holds for Columbus Brick.
Mineral stain for central Ohio brick and stone, hand-applied and warrantied for life. Eleven documented projects from Hilliard to Pickerington.
Central Ohio houses, offices, and a hospital, stained one brick at a time.
A house in Galena and a hospital in Columbus get the same mineral stain and the same lifetime warranty. The difference is who signs off on the color: a family, or a facilities office and its architect.
Residential Staining
Additions matched, new-build color corrected, and whole-home color changes, from Victorian Village out to the Delaware County line.
Explore Residential
Commercial & Architectural
Hospitals, office parks and retail across Franklin County, specified under CSI 04 25 10, with dated case files to back them.
Explore CommercialBrick staining in Columbus, matched to the wall you already have.
Bramwell-McKay stains brick, stone, block and precast in Columbus and the towns around it, working from our office in Carmel, Indiana, roughly three hours west on I-70. The crews come from masonry restoration, so a wall is checked for sound mortar and for how it takes water before anyone talks about color.
The stain is mineral, not paint. Inorganic pigments soak into the masonry and bond with the clay, so the color sits inside the wall instead of forming a film across it. The brick keeps breathing, the texture does not change, and nothing is left on the surface to peel.
Columbus is two kinds of brick. The old city is nineteenth-century: German Village's houses on brick streets, the porches of Victorian Village, the storefront blocks of the Short North along High Street. The suburbs that grew north and east are new, and that is where most of our files sit. Eight of eleven documented central Ohio projects, stained between 1999 and 2014, are in Dublin, Powell, Galena, Westerville, New Albany, Johnstown and Pickerington, and seven of the eleven were paid for by the brick manufacturer, the mason or the contractor rather than the owner.
What central Ohio calls us about
Most of our central Ohio files are about newer brick, not old. The suburbs went up quickly, and quick building leaves color problems behind. Each kind of call below has a documented local project behind it, with photographs from the year of the work and from a return visit years on.
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A new house that came out the wrong color
A pale run, shapes that do not match the field brick, a wall that went up lighter than the sample. In Johnstown, Powell and Galena the company that made the brick paid to have it stained instead of torn out. See the Johnstown pale run, the Powell column shapes, or builders and contractors.
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An addition that never matched
The addition went up in a different maker's brick, and it has looked like an addition ever since. A Hilliard family had every brick stained in 2009 to pull old and new into one range. See the Hilliard addition.
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A hospital, office or store with an area that reads wrong
The masonry is sound and one part of it is off: the block over an entrance, a run of dark brick, the piers by the door. The spec section is CSI 04 25 10. See the Dodd Rehabilitation Hospital entrance, the Dublin office center, or the architects and engineers page.
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An older city house in a color you never chose
Much of German Village and Victorian Village went up in the 1800s and early 1900s, and some of that brick has been painted since. On bare, sound brick, a whole-home color change moves the color without adding a film. See full-home makeovers or brick staining vs painting.
If it soaks up water, Columbus masonry can take a stain
The core of what we do. Any absorbent brick, from an 1800s house in German Village to a new build in Powell.
The joints between the brick, stained on their own or along with the wall.
Concrete block on a garage, a foundation, or an addition takes stain and keeps its texture.
Limestone, sandstone, and fieldstone can be toned, matched, or evened out.
Faded or mismatched veneer stone gets its color back without replacement.
Patio pavers and cast concrete carry color the same way brick does.
Can we get the color you are looking for?
Almost certainly. Colors are custom mixed, so you are not picking from a little fan of chips.
A run of brick that came out brown against a grey wall. Stained to match the courses around it. Both photos are the same afternoon, eighty minutes apart.
Drag to compare. Pick any job to see it.
Darker and richer is easy; going much lighter depends on your brick, and we will tell you straight after we see it. Start at brick stain colors to see what is possible.
Columbus, Dublin and Hilliard, photographed years apart.
How do you know stain lasts through Ohio winters? Somebody goes back with a camera. Eleven central Ohio projects were photographed again seven to twenty-one years after staining, and the color had held.
Why Columbus brick gets stain, not paint
Central Ohio winters rarely stay frozen. From November to March the temperature swings across 32 degrees again and again, and each swing tests whatever sits on the face of a brick. Water gets behind a paint film, freezes, grows, and lifts it. The National Park Service says the same in its guidance on brick masonry: non-permeable paint or other coatings accelerate decay by trapping moisture behind the coating.
Mineral stain leaves nothing on the face to lift. The pigment is mineral and inorganic; it soaks into the pores of the brick and bonds there with the clay. The Brick Industry Association's Technical Note 6, in its March 2025 revision, states that mineral-based stains are "preferred due to their high water vapor permeability" (opens in a new tab). Two central Ohio files, a church in Hilliard and a house in Johnstown, were stained in May 1999 and photographed again twenty winters later.
Work we finish carries a lifetime warranty on the stain system as applied. Mortar deterioration is outside it, and a sealer put over the stain afterward voids it. Read the full terms on the warranty page, and the long-run cost of each choice on brick staining vs painting.
Staining vs Painting, in FullDon't take it from us.
They did a nice job staining my brick to match the house. Very professional job. Cleaned up after themselves. And [were] very conscientious of what they did and how they did it.
Their expertise in brick staining, especially matching historic brick that's no longer available, is exceptional. It's not just close; they achieve a level of color and texture blending that makes repairs virtually disappear… Bramwell McKay employs master masons directly rather than relying on subcontractors, and it shows in the consistency and craftsmanship of their work… Whether it's restoration, repair, or new work that needs to tie seamlessly into an older structure, they bring a level of knowledge and execution that's hard to find.
I had them redo the bricks on my house from pink to beige and brown. They were courteous and professional. I was very pleased and have had many compliments on the great job they did.
Masonry staining for Columbus, from German Village to the outerbelt.
German Village is brick houses on brick streets, most of it from the 1800s, and much of it restored rather than replaced. Brick staining suits a wall like that. The mineral stain soaks into each unit and stays there, so the color changes while the soft edges and worn faces of old brick stay as they are.
Painting vs. brick staining is a live question on the older houses near downtown, where an earlier owner painted the brick and the paint is now letting go. Paint holds water against the wall; stain lets it pass through. Paint is a job you repeat, and stain is a one-time job backed by a written lifetime warranty.
Masonry staining reaches past brick. Manufactured stone, block, mortar and limestone take the same mineral stain, and a stone-clad model home in Westerville was darkened to its approved color in 2012. Each color is mixed for the job and approved on a sample of the building's own wall. Every surface we stain is listed on our masonry staining services page.
What to expect when you work with us
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Consultation
We take the brief on the first call: the building, its condition, the result you want, and the schedule the work has to fit.
You receive Documented scope -
Site assessment
We evaluate the masonry in person. Substrate condition, existing coatings, access, and how the work has to be sequenced around you.
You receive Condition and access review -
Absorption test
Water on the brick shows how the surface absorbs. Stain bonds into the pore structure, so this result governs whether the substrate qualifies at all.
You receive Substrate go or no go -
Sample panel and proposal
A section of your actual wall, stained and adjusted until the color is approved. It becomes the reference standard. Firm pricing in writing at the same time.
You receive Approved color standard, firm written price -
Application and closeout
Applied by hand with a brush, signed off section by section against the approved panel. Final walk, photo documentation, warranty in writing.
You receive Documented completion, lifetime warranty
Columbus brick staining questions
See your masonry in a new color
Two ways to reach us, and both go straight to a real person. We usually get back to you the same day.
Fill out the form
The form asks for what a real quote needs: the address, what the brick looks like now, and photos or drawings of the wall. Fill it out once, and we come out already knowing the job.
Request a QuoteCall us
A real person answers, and if we are on a wall, we call you right back. Best for a quick question, or if you've never explored stain before and want the full tutorial, we're happy to have a real person call and talk it through with you.