How Many Bricks for a 12x12 Wall?
Brick to buy
1,037 brick
A wall 12 ft long and 12 ft tall in modular brick, 3/8 in joints, five percent waste.
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.
How that number is worked out
These are the figures this page was built with and every line the calculator produces from them. Change anything above and all of it moves.
- Wall length12 ft
- Wall height12 ft
- Openings to deduct0 sq ft
- Brick sizeModular, 7 5/8 x 2 1/4
- Mortar joint0.375 in
- Waste allowance5 %
Brick to buy1,037 brick
| Net wall area | 144 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Brick per sq ft | 6.86 |
| Brick before waste | 988 |
| Courses | 55at 2.625 in per course |
| Mortar in the joints | 8 cu ft |
| Mortar to buy | 15.9 cu ftjoint volume doubled, see the assumptions |
| Mortar mix, 80 lb bags | 2737 brick per bag |
| Wall ties | 54 |
| Weep holes | 5 |
The material list this produces
| Brick | 1,037 |
|---|---|
| Mortar mix, 80 lb bags | 27 |
| Wall ties | 54 |
| Weep vents | 5 |
| Flashing, ft | 12 |
Brick size compared
The same wall in every brick size the calculator carries, at this page's area. Modular is the default because it is what most of the country builds with, but a wall specified in king or utility brick needs far fewer units and far less mortar, and the labor drops with the unit count.
| Brick size | Brick to buy | Brick per sq ft | Mortar mix, 80 lb bags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modular | 1,037 brick | 6.86 | 27 |
| Standard | 991 brick | 6.55 | 27 |
| Queen | 871 brick | 5.76 | 18 |
| Engineer | 854 brick | 5.65 | 24 |
| King | 726 brick | 4.8 | 18 |
| Utility | 454 brick | 3 | 18 |
What else matters here
Twelve by twelve is 144 square feet and 55 courses, and it is the size at which a wall stops being a garden feature and starts being a structure with rules attached.
Height is the reason. A freestanding brick wall is slender for its height, and the taller it gets the more it depends on something other than its own thickness to stay up: piers at intervals, a return at the end, or a thicker section at the base. Twelve feet of single wythe brick standing on its own with nothing bracing it is not a thing to build off a calculator, and in most places it is not a thing to build without a permit either.
As a veneer on a building the same 144 square feet is routine, which is the distinction worth being clear about before ordering. The brick count and the mortar are identical either way. What differs is the footing, the bracing and whether anyone has to sign it off.
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.
Questions people ask
How many bricks for a 12x12 wall?
1,037 modular brick, which is 988 for the 144 square feet plus five percent waste.
How many courses is a 12 foot brick wall?
55 courses of modular brick, working on 2.625 inches per course including the joint.
Can I build a 12 foot freestanding brick wall?
Not off a calculator. At that height a single wythe wall needs piers, returns or a thicker base to stay standing, and in most jurisdictions it needs a permit and a design. As a veneer on a building the same area is ordinary.
The brick calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.