Brick Calculator: Brick, Mortar Bags and Wall Ties
Wall length, height, brick size and joint, and it returns the brick per square foot, the count with waste, the mortar in bags, the ties and the weeps. Every size here is the actual face dimension, so the count comes out of arithmetic rather than out of a table somebody copied.
When the figures look right, the brick material list downloads as a real PDF with your business details on it, built inside your own browser. Nothing you type is uploaded anywhere.
Worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with and the answer it gives. Change anything above and every number below moves with it.
- Wall length40 ft
- Wall height9 ft
- Openings to deduct0 sq ft
- Brick sizeModular, 7 5/8 x 2 1/4
- Mortar joint0.375 in
- Waste allowance5 %
Brick to buy2,592 brick
| Net wall area | 360 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Brick per sq ft | 6.86 |
| Brick before waste | 2,469 |
| Courses | 42at 2.625 in per course |
| Mortar in the joints | 19.9 cu ft |
| Mortar to buy | 39.8 cu ftjoint volume doubled, see the assumptions |
| Mortar mix, 80 lb bags | 6737 brick per bag |
| Wall ties | 135 |
| Weep holes | 15 |
The material list this produces
| Brick | 2,592 |
|---|---|
| Mortar mix, 80 lb bags | 67 |
| Wall ties | 135 |
| Weep vents | 15 |
| Flashing, ft | 40 |
What this calculator assumes
- Sizes are actual face dimensions, not nominal. A modular brick is 7 5/8 by 2 1/4, and it is the 3/8 joint around it that makes up the nominal 8 by 2 2/3 the coursing is laid out from.
- This is a single wythe, which is what a veneer is. A solid two wythe wall is twice the brick and twice the mortar.
- Mortar is the volume of the bed and head joints across the bed depth of the brick, doubled. The doubling is not a fudge, it lands the bag count on the figure printed on the bag: an 80 pound bag of mortar mix yields about 0.6 cubic feet and lays roughly 37 modular brick.
- Wall ties are one per 2.67 square feet, which is 16 inches horizontally by 24 vertically, the spacing in TMS 402 for anchored veneer.
- Weep holes are one every 33 inches along the base course, which is the usual reading of the 33 inch maximum.
Brick per square foot is arithmetic, not a table
A modular brick is 7 5/8 by 2 1/4 actual. Add a 3/8 joint to each dimension and one brick occupies 8 by 2 5/8, which is 0.1458 square feet, which is 6.86 brick per square foot. That is where the number in every table comes from, and it is why the table stops being right the moment you change the joint or the size.
Queen brick at the same joint is 5.76 per square foot and utility is 3.00. On a 40 by 9 foot wall that is 2,592 modular, 2,178 queen or 1,134 utility, for exactly the same 360 square feet of wall.
Nominal names confuse this badly. A modular brick is called 8 by 2 2/3 because that is what it occupies with its joint, not what it measures. Measure one off the pallet if you are unsure, because the count follows the actual face.
The joint moves the brick count and the mortar in opposite directions
Widen the joint and you use fewer brick and more mortar. That 40 by 9 wall at a 3/8 joint is 2,592 brick and 67 bags of mortar mix. The same wall at a 1/2 inch joint is 2,437 brick and 85 bags.
That is 155 fewer brick and 18 more bags, and the bags are the cheaper of the two, so a wider joint usually saves money on material. It costs time, because a 1/2 inch joint is slower to strike and less forgiving of an uneven brick.
Three eighths is the default because it is what modular coursing is laid out around. Seven courses of modular brick with a 3/8 joint rise exactly 18 3/8 inches, which is why brick ledges, sills and window heights land where they do.
Mortar bags are the line that gets underbought
The joints on that wall hold 19.9 cubic feet of mortar. The order is 39.8, because roughly half of what a mason mixes never ends up in a joint: it furrows out, it squeezes past the brick and gets struck off, and it drops off the board.
Doubled, the figure lands where the bag says it should. Sixty seven 80 pound bags for 2,469 brick is 37 brick a bag, which is the coverage printed on a bag of type N mortar mix. That agreement is the check that the calculation is honest rather than optimistic.
Bagged mix and site mixed mortar are two different orders. This list gives you bags. If you are batching sand and masonry cement on site, work from the cubic feet line instead and let your supplier convert it.
Ties, weeps and flashing are the part an inspector looks at
A veneer is not a structural wall, it is a skin hung off one, and the ties are what hang it. TMS 402 puts anchored veneer ties at one per 2.67 square feet, which is 16 inches across by 24 up. On that 40 by 9 wall that is 135 ties, and they cost almost nothing next to a wall that has to come down.
Weeps go in the head joints of the base course at no more than 33 inches apart, which is 15 on a 40 foot wall. They are the only way water that gets behind the brick gets back out, and brick veneer always lets water behind it.
Flashing runs the full length at the base and over every opening, and it is on the list at the wall length for that reason. Weeps above flashing drain the cavity. Weeps without flashing drain nothing.
Questions people ask
How many bricks per square foot?
6.86 for modular brick with a 3/8 inch joint, which is the standard US answer. Queen is 5.76, utility is 3.00 and king is 4.61. The figure is one divided by the face area plus one joint in each direction, so it moves whenever the brick or the joint does.
How many bricks for a 40 foot wall?
A 40 by 9 foot single wythe veneer is 360 square feet, which is 2,469 modular brick bare and 2,592 with 5 percent waste. Deduct the openings first: the same job with 60 square feet of windows and doors on a 30 by 8 wall is 1,296.
How many bags of mortar do I need per 1,000 brick?
About 27 of the 80 pound bags, working from roughly 37 modular brick a bag at a 3/8 joint. Widen to a 1/2 inch joint and it rises to about 35 bags per thousand, because the joint volume goes up faster than the brick count comes down.
How many bricks are on a pallet?
A cube of modular brick is usually somewhere between 500 and 535, and it varies by plant rather than by any standard. Take the total from the calculator and divide by whatever your supplier's cube actually holds before you order.
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Common sizes, worked out
The same calculator with the numbers already filled in, one page per size, each ending in its own material list.