How do you use the brick calculator?
- Enter the wall length and height in feet, and pick the thickness: 4.5 in for a half-brick partition, 9 in for a one-brick wall.
- Pick the brick: standard is 230 × 110 × 75 mm and modular is 190 × 90 × 90 mm. Then enter the number of doors and windows in the wall.
- Read the bricks to buy, the cement and sand for the mortar, and the cost. Price, wastage, opening sizes, joint and mix are under “Adjust price, wastage, openings and mortar”. You can also type your own brick size there.
How are bricks counted for a wall?
Work out the volume of brickwork: the wall face minus doors and windows, times the thickness. Each brick takes up its own size plus one mortar joint on each of three sides, so divide the volume by that larger block to get the count. Whatever is left of the wall volume is mortar. Add a few percent for broken bricks and cutting.
Mortar is mixed dry and shrinks when water is added, so the dry volume is taken as 1.33 times the wet volume. That dry volume is split in the mix ratio, and cement is converted at 1,440 kg per m³ into 50 kg bags. These are common site conventions, not rules for every brick and mortar.
How the bricks are worked out
(Length × height − openings) × thicknessStep 1 ÷ [(L + joint) × (W + joint) × (H + joint)] × (1 + wastage)Step 1 − bricks × brick volume; dry = wet × 1.33Dry mortar × cement share × 1,440 ÷ 50Worked example: 20 × 10 ft wall, 9 in thick
With one door (21 sq ft) and one window (16 sq ft), 163 sq ft of a 230 mm wall is 3.483 m³ of brickwork. With 230 × 110 × 75 mm bricks and 10 mm joints that is 1,423 bricks, or 1,494 with 5% wastage. At ₹ 9 a brick they cost ₹ 13,446. The 1:6 mortar needs about 5 bags of cement and 33.1 cu ft of sand.
The same wall in 190 × 90 × 90 mm modular bricks needs 1,829. As a 4.5 in partition in conventional bricks it needs 747.
How many bricks per sq ft of wall?
| Wall | Brick | Per 100 sq ft | Per sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.5 in (115 mm) | 230×110×75 mm | 436 | 4.4 |
| 4.5 in (115 mm) | 190×90×90 mm | 534 | 5.3 |
| 9 in (230 mm) | 230×110×75 mm | 873 | 8.7 |
| 9 in (230 mm) | 190×90×90 mm | 1,068 | 10.7 |
What should you check before ordering bricks?
- Measure a few bricks from the actual supplier. Local bricks often differ from the nominal size, and the count changes with it.
- Ask whether the price is per brick delivered to site, and who pays for unloading.
- Order a little extra from the same batch, so colour and size match if you run short.
Frequently asked questions
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Sources
- Brick count from brickwork volume ÷ (brick + joint) volume; mortar dry factor 1.33 and cement at 1,440 kg per m³ are common site conventions used as examples.
- Brick sizes, opening sizes, price and wastage: your inputs; the defaults are examples. No market prices are assumed.
Indicative quantities for planning, not a structural design. Follow your engineer’s drawings for wall thickness and mortar mix. For GST, indicative only.
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