A wall built with a standard modular brick will require seven bricks per square foot to complete the project. Projects using different sizes may need more or fewer bricks.
Follow the steps below for an accurate estimate.
Start estimating the number of bricks you’ll need by determining how much area you need to cover
in square feet. To do this, measure the width and height of your wall or surface.
Once you’ve measured the wall’s width and height, you can find the area in square footage by
multiplying the wall’s width in feet times the wall’s height in feet.
drawing showing how to find the square footage of a wall
You can also choose to measure the wall in inches and make your calculation in inches. Once
you’ve multiplied the height and width to get your total square inches, you will convert back to
square feet.
After you know the surface area, you need to find the amount of area that each brick will cover. The easiest way to do that is to find each brick’s area in square inches and then divide by 144 to convert square inches to square feet. Keep in mind that there will also be a 3⁄8” mortar joint between each brick.
You can determine the number of bricks needed to cover your area by dividing the square footage of the area to be covered by the brick’s square footage (wall sq ft ÷ brick sq ft).
We strongly recommend adding 10% additional material to cover any waste and account for any
broken blocks or cuts. If you plan on creating any patterns in the brick, add another 10% waste
to the total.
The brick calculator above accounts for partial bricks and cutoffs automatically and may return
a different number for your project.
Check out our concrete block calculator to find the number of concrete blocks needed for a
project. Concrete blocks, or cinder blocks, are larger than bricks, but the strategy to find the
number of bricks to cover a surface can be used to find the number of concrete blocks to cover a
surface as well.
You can estimate mortar by referring to the coverage rate for the specific mortar used on the
project. Mortar is a mixture of cement, sand, and often lime. The type of mortar you will use
for your project can vary depending on location, flexibility, and the compressive strength
needed. Most mortars used for bricks require one bag of cement per 100-142 bricks, depending on
the size.
One bag of cement is needed for every 142 modular, 125 queen, or 100 utility bricks. This
estimate assumes using a mortar that needs to be mixed with three parts sand. A 1:3 cement to
sand mix will require one cubic yard of sand for every seven bags of mortar.
Pre-mixed bags of mortar are also readily available, and an 80-pound bag of mix will often yield
30-36 bricks. Divide the total number of bricks by 36 to calculate the bags needed. Try our
mortar calculator to calculate mortar needs more accurately.
It is important to note that there are many types of bricks and many sizes as well. See some of the most common brick types and sizes below, along with an estimate of how many you’ll need per square foot (or square meter).