Tell them to go pound sand. You are the consumer who bought in good faith and they've supplied defective products. Demand satisfaction.

First off, any coating on brick regardless of how well it works is a maintenance issue for life. It might be 3 years, 5 years, 10 years, etc, but the coating will have to be redone/cleaned/touched up to continue to look good. Brick is supposed to be essentially maintenance-free.

I believe that your in for a battle. The supplier gave you an inferior product. The installer put it up. Unless they are the same entity, the supplier is only liable to give you new bricks that are correct. The installer will be responsible for ripping out the old and installing new, which he most likely will not want to do.

It may be more economical for him to walk away from the job and let you sue him then it is to redo the job. Then you're stuck with an unfinished job. The only way it will get finished in a timely fashion is to hire someone else and you foot the bill to correct the situation. Then you chase whoever you can to get your money back.

If you didn't like it while it was going up, you should have stopped the work until it was done right. I don't belive that any contractor is going to willingly dismantle new masonry and rebuild it at his expense because of aesthetics.

I want to add that: I don't think you're wrong and I don't think you're being unreasonable, but I believe you're in for a difficult time to get it corrected.

I hope I'm wrong and good luck. FWIW, Maybe your best option is to tell them you want some money back and have them coat/paint it the right color at thier expense.

Hello,
This is a continuing problem. Many years ago,when my house was built, the brick was not uniform in color. The contractor would not stop the job. The brick was stained afterwards and sealed. It never looked right, but if the contractor did the work, then your beef is with the contractor.

If you can prove that the brick is not the same quality as you paid for, then you may have a case.

If you get a judgement against the contractor, all he needs to do is change his DBA and go back to work.

Unless you have a very good attorney, you will have to pay again for what you want.

If you have a performance bond on the job, it would cover the mistake probably. In Texas many residential jobs do not have this insurance unless the job is large.

cannon, what did you end up doing? The same thing is happening to me. Please see my post in the Building a House section. We are willing to accept staining as a corrective action but are seeking a discount. They convinced us that staining would make the color problem unnoticeable, and the brick dealer is willing to offer lifetime warranty. Bob, your statement that it never looked right is scaring me! Please elaborate. Did the color fade out eventually? Did it look acceptable at first?

Don't fall for the lifetime warranty! That means in the future, the stain will be provided at no cost. The costs of reapplication (labor, equipment, etc.) will still be your responsibility!! You're getting sucked in and will really be sorry in the future. If staining was such a good way to go, they wouldn't go through the trouble of brick making. They'd just use concrete forms to make concrete look like brick and then stain it. I've seen this and Bob has warned you...don't be sorry later!! You've seen those older buildings where the brick was painted? I wonder why? If stain and a sealer were so great, I doubt they would have painted the brick only to have to do it again every 5 years.

When done properly, the staining process can actually be the best means of fixing this problem. Rather than weakening the structure by tearing out and replacing miscolored brick, the staining process provides an excellent alternative that WILL last. I can testify having seen 30-year real-time results. I'm not saying that you are not entitled to getting what you paid for but let me just mention a few of the benefits of the staining process should that be the way you end up going:
- It is definitely maintenance free. There is no re-applying product/ powerwashing/ etc that is required after the application. If you want to wash your masonry, that is great but in no way required of the staining process itself.
- Stain is not Paint. When you PAINT a brick it fills in the pores and creates a membrane over the surface. This creates a non-breathable surface which is paramount for masonry structures. They have to breath! When water or other moisture gets trapped behind paint, it comes through the surface and brings the paint with it. Staining on the other hand penetrates the surface, leaving it re-colored but without that non-breathable membrane. That way when moisture escapes it is allowed to come through the surface but nothing peels.
Hopefully this clears up a little confusion regarding the staining process. One company I know of that does a great job is Brick Imaging out of Colorado. They travel Nationwide.

Here is a link that might be useful: Brick Imaging

Cannon and Sheryl_2006, what did you end up doing? Did anyone have their brick stained? If so, what were the results? I have a white brick- it's not a solid brick. I think it would be called red based shale. Our home is only 3 years old, and already we have the white coat fading (not sure of the right terminology for that) and some chipping where we can see more red as each year passes by. The distributor wants to "touch up" the faded bricks with stain to cover up the red with the white color, but who's to say that this won't keep happening each year? Any input would be greatly appreciated!

It was the contractors responsibility to make sure the bricks were correct. Once the bricks were installed the manufacturer responsibility was diminished greatly. There will be a notice on these pallets that basically say to inspect these tiles or bricks or whatever, and take action at that point. It also says that once the items are installed the manufacturer is not responsible.
You can try to make both the contractor and manufacturer responsible by taking them to Court. You will never get the court to order either the contractor or the manufacturer to remove the bricks and do it correctly. You will get what is offered now but with the added legal costs. It is unfair, but this is the reality I think you will get.
Ron

Call BST Brick Staining Technology INC 717-266-4444 or go to the WEB-SITE www.brickstaining.net.