How Many Bricks Do I Need?
Bricks are estimated by area: work out the wall square footage, multiply by the bricks per square foot (or per square metre), and add waste. Here are the quick figures, tables by wall size, and how single versus double-skin walls change the count.
By the Calculate My Reno Team / Published
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Open the Brick & Block Calculator
Brick is estimated by area: you turn the wall square footage (or square metres) into a brick count using a simple bricks per unit area figure, then add waste. The number that does the work is how much wall one brick covers, which depends on the brick size and the mortar joint.
Skip the math
Enter your wall sizes, take off the doors and windows, pick your brick size and joint, and the brick calculator returns the brick count, the mortar and the sand - single or double skin. The rest of this guide is how it works, so you can sanity-check the number.
The quick formula
bricks per area = 1 ÷ ((brick length + joint) × (brick height + joint))
net wall area = sum of (wall length × height) − doors & windows
bricks = ceil( net area × bricks/area × skins × waste )
A brick covers its own face plus one mortar joint on each side, so a standard US modular brick at a 3/8 in joint works out to about 6.86 bricks per square foot, and a UK metric brick (215 × 65 mm) at a 10 mm joint is about 60 bricks per square metre. A double-skin wall lays two bricks for every face, so double the count. Add 5% waste for a clean wall and 10% where there are lots of cuts, corners and openings.
Bricks by wall area (single skin)
These use 6.86 modular bricks per sq ft (and ~60 per m²) with 5% waste:
| Net wall area | Modular brick (per sq ft) | Metric brick (per m²) |
|---|---|---|
| 50 sq ft (4.6 m²) | 360 | 290 |
| 100 sq ft (9.3 m²) | 720 | 585 |
| 200 sq ft (18.6 m²) | 1,440 | 1,170 |
| 300 sq ft (27.9 m²) | 2,160 | 1,755 |
| 500 sq ft (46.5 m²) | 3,600 | 2,930 |
| 1,000 sq ft (93 m²) | 7,200 | 5,855 |
Double every figure for a two-skin wall. The metric column uses a 215 × 65 mm brick at 60 per m²; a bigger Australian 230 × 76 mm brick is nearer 48 per m², so it needs fewer.
Bricks by common wall size
A few everyday jobs, single skin of modular brick, 5% waste:
| Wall | Area | Bricks (modular) |
|---|---|---|
| Garden wall 20 × 3 ft | 60 sq ft | 432 |
| Garden wall 30 × 4 ft | 120 sq ft | 864 |
| Garage wall 20 × 8 ft | 160 sq ft | 1,152 |
| House gable 24 × 12 ft | ~250 sq ft | 1,800 |
Single skin, double skin and veneer
- A single skin (one wythe) is one brick thick - common for a garden wall or a brick veneer over a framed or block backup.
- A double skin (two wythes) is two bricks thick, so it needs twice the brick and twice the mortar.
- A cavity wall is usually an outer brick skin plus a separate inner leaf of block - count the brick outer leaf here, then size the inner leaf with the concrete block calculator.
Worked example
A 20 ft × 8 ft single-skin garage wall in modular brick, less a 7 ft × 7 ft door, 5% waste:
- Gross wall area: 20 × 8 = 160 sq ft.
- Deduct the door: 7 × 7 = 49 sq ft, so net = 111 sq ft.
- Bricks: 111 × 6.86 = 761, × 1.05 waste = 800 bricks.
Round up to whole bricks, order a little long, and keep the batch number - clay colour can shift slightly between runs. For the per-area figures behind this, see how many bricks per square foot; for the mortar, see how much mortar do I need.
Frequently asked questions
How many bricks do I need for a wall?
Multiply the wall area (length times height, minus openings) by the bricks per unit area. For a US modular brick that is about 6.86 bricks per square foot of single-skin wall; for a UK metric brick it is about 60 per square metre. So a 100 sq ft wall is roughly 690 modular bricks before waste. Double those figures for a double-skin (two-wythe) wall, and add 5 to 10% waste.
How many bricks are in a pallet?
A pallet (or cube) of standard bricks is usually around 500 bricks, though it ranges from about 450 to 530 depending on the brick size and the supplier. Larger bricks pack fewer to the cube. Work out your total brick count first, then divide by the pallet size your supplier quotes to know how many cubes to order.
How many bricks do I need for a 2 bedroom house?
A single-storey two-bedroom house has very roughly 1,000 to 1,400 sq ft of exterior wall after openings, so a single brick skin is somewhere around 7,000 to 10,000 modular bricks - and a brick-veneer or double-skin build needs that for the outer leaf plus block or a second leaf behind it. It swings a lot with the footprint, the wall height and the number of openings, so measure each wall and use the calculator for the real figure.
How do I work out how many bricks I need?
Add up each wall as length times height for the gross area, subtract the doors and windows, then multiply the net area by the bricks per square foot or per square metre for your brick. Multiply by the number of skins (one or two), then add 5 to 10% for waste and round up. The brick calculator does every step from your wall sizes and brick size.