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Calculating how many bricks you need
First, to calculate how many bricks you need to construct an internal or external wall, you need to know the dimensions of the wall as well as the dimensions of a single brick and to input them in our brick calculator. These dimensions can be acquired from the building plan and the manufacturer specifications, respectively. Then you need to know how thick the wall needs to be, with the two standard options being half-brick and single-brick. Half-brick means you will be stacking the bricks with their longest narrow side on the face of the wall and single-brick means you will be stacking them with their shorter narrow side on the face of the wall. Consequently, the wall thickness equals the brick’s width in a half-brick wall, while a single brick wall is as thick as length of the bricks used. Both methods are supported by our online brick calculator
Either way the basic formula to calculate the number of bricks required for a wall is to divide the volume of the wall by the volume of a single brick:
Number of bricks = wall volume / single brick volume
Real-world situations require a more complex calculation, which is why our calculator supports the specification of the thickness of the mortar joint between the bricks. Usual values are half an inch or 10-13 mm, but this will depend on your chosen construction approach. Using wider margin will obviously reduce the number of bricks needed, but it has its effect on the constructive strength of the wall and results in more mortar being required.
Finally, you need to enter your expected percentage of wasted bricks. Waste usually occurs due to bricks being broken during transportation, handling, manipulation, but also due to the need to cut some of them into pieces in order to have a good-looking wall. Some of these pieces cannot be used and need to be discarded. Allowing for between 5-10% waste is a good practice.
Georgiev G.Z., “Brick Calculator”, [online] Available at: https://www.gigacalculator.com/calculators/brick-calculator.php URL [Accessed Date: 05 Jul, 2022].