How to Calculate the Number of Bricks
When you are planning your project it will become very important for you to be able to learn how to calculate the number of bricks in your wall. The cost of even the most common bricks has become very expensive, especially if you go for so called “Hand Made” bricks can be as much as £1 each, that`s before we even talk about “Specials” which would be used for things like window cills, window head detailing and architectural strings of bricks.
How to calculate the numbers of bricks
It is quite simple how to work out the number of bricks you will require, but there are a few considerations you must consider:
• Thickness of the wall to be built
• Amount of openings
• Amount of detail in the wall ie: Decorative panels, Dentilation or Dogtooth String Courses
Knowing the thickness of the wall is the most important thing to know, firstly we will talk about the standard facing brick: The standard size brick used in the UK today is 215mm x 102.5mm x 65 mm, together with the use of a 10 mm mortar joints that run both horizontally and vertically.
The rule of thumb for working out the number of bricks, you will have to work out the total area of your building you are going to clad with brickwork, for every square m2 you have, you have to multiply this by 60. So if you have a wall that is 6 metres long and 2 metres high, you will have a square area of 12 m. So we will need to order 720 bricks.
Please allow about 10% wastage, this can be due to transport or just moving the bricks around your project, some bricks can be quite fragile: so to clarify:
Single Skin Wall
• 6m x 2m = 12 square metres x 60 (number of bricks in a square metre) = 720 + 10% wastage = 792 bricks required
Double Skin Wall
• 6m x 2m = 12metres x 120 = 1440+ 20% wastage = 1728 bricks
Note: On the double skin wall I would allow for a little less wastage.
Block are a standard size for most applications these days and would normally be: 440 x 215 x 100mm plus 10 mm joints. You will need 10 blocks per square metre, so we would use the dimensions stated above to come to the same total.
• 6m x 2m = 12m x 10 blocks = 120 blocks
If you are employing the services of a professional`s building company, you can use these calculations to check their quantities. Part of a professionals knowledge is to keep wastage down to a minimum and handle the bricks with care, wastage means money!