Brick & Masonry Staining in Detroit One Wall, One Color for Detroit Brick.
Mineral stain for metro Detroit brick, matched by hand and warrantied for life. Forty-eight documented projects from Canton to St. Clair.
Metro Detroit houses, hospitals, and schools, matched brick by brick.
A subdivision house in Macomb and a hospital in Novi get the same mineral stain and the same lifetime warranty. The submittals and the scheduling are what differ.
Residential Staining
Off-color new brick, power washer damage, and repairs that stand out, from Northville to New Baltimore.
Explore Residential
Commercial & Architectural
Hospitals, schools, offices and a fire station across Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and St. Clair Counties, specified under CSI 04 25 10.
Explore CommercialBrick staining in Detroit, matched to the wall you already have.
Bramwell-McKay is a masonry staining company based in Carmel, Indiana, about four and a half hours south of Detroit by I-69. We stain brick, block, stone and precast, and the crews come to it from masonry restoration rather than from painting.
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.
Metro Detroit is where our records run deepest. Forty-eight documented projects in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston and St. Clair Counties were stained between 1994 and 2011 and photographed again between 2019 and 2021. Most sit in the suburban ring: Novi has five, Canton and St. Clair four each, Northville, Macomb and Sterling Heights three each. Most were paid for by a brick manufacturer putting a new building right before its owner moved in.
What metro Detroit calls us about
Most Detroit-area calls are about matching, not about changing a color outright: new brick that came in wrong, a wall someone damaged, a repair that shows. Each kind below has a documented metro project behind it.
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A new house that went up in the wrong brick
Two runs on one wall, a blend that came out blotchy, a shipment that was not what the buyer chose. In Rochester Hills the manufacturer had the wrong brick stained to match the right one instead of tearing it out. See builders and contractors.
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Brick a power washer got to
Too much pressure strips the fired face and leaves pale scars that do not wash back. Five of our metro files are this, in Belleville, Highland, Novi, Rochester Hills and Romulus. Staining puts the color back into the damaged units. See the Novi pressure washer repair.
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A repair that reads as a patch
Older city houses and newer suburban ones both collect repairs, and replacement brick rarely matches. Staining the new units to the old makes the repair stop showing. See the Canton repair or the Livonia university building.
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A hospital, school or office that reads patchy
Twelve of the metro files are institutional or commercial, from a Novi hospital to St. Clair schools. Work is sequenced around occupancy and specified under CSI 04 25 10. See the Novi hospital, the schools and universities page, or the architects and engineers page.
If the brick on your Detroit building drinks water, it will take stain
The core of what we do. Any absorbent brick, from an early 1900s house in Boston-Edison to a 1990s subdivision in Macomb County.
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.
Dearborn Heights, Washington and Rochester Hills, years later.
How do we know it holds up through Michigan winters? We go back with a camera. Forty-eight metro Detroit projects have been re-photographed eight to twenty-five years after staining, and the color is where the crew left it.
Why Detroit brick gets stain, not paint
Michigan brick spends half the year getting wet and freezing. A wall that can dry between thaws comes through that; a wall wearing a film often does not, because water caught behind paint expands when it freezes and lifts the coating off in flakes. 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 adds color without adding a layer. The inorganic pigment soaks into the brick's pores and bonds to the fired clay, so water vapor still moves through the face the way it did before. 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). A high rise we stained in Canton in 1994 was photographed again in 2019, after twenty-five Michigan winters.
The stain system as applied is covered by a lifetime warranty. Mortar deterioration is outside it, and a sealer brushed or sprayed over the stain later voids it. The terms are on the warranty page, and the long-run cost of stain against paint is laid out on brick staining vs painting.
Staining vs Painting, in FullDon't take it from us.
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.
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.
The stain worked like a charm… Now, you couldn't find the damaged bricks if you tried.
Masonry staining for Detroit, from Indian Village to the Macomb County line.
The houses of Indian Village and Boston-Edison went up in the early 1900s, and a century on many walls carry several rounds of repair, each in a slightly different brick. Brick staining is how those patches go back to one wall without covering the original face: the color goes into each replacement unit and the old brick is left as it was.
Painting vs. brick staining usually comes up here after somebody has suggested painting the whole house to hide the patches. That trades a mismatch for a maintenance cycle. Paint hides the brick under a film that freeze and thaw will lift; stain changes only the units that need it and leaves the wall able to breathe.
Masonry staining reaches past brick. Limestone trim, block, mortar and cast stone take the same mineral stain, on a single porch or a full school addition, and every color is mixed for the building and approved on its own wall first. The full list is 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
Questions we hear from metro Detroit
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.