How Many Bricks for 2,000 Square Feet?
Brick to buy
14,400 brick
2,000 square feet of wall face in modular brick, 3/8 in joints, five percent waste.
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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 length250 ft
- Wall height8 ft
- Openings to deduct0 sq ft
- Brick sizeModular, 7 5/8 x 2 1/4
- Mortar joint0.375 in
- Waste allowance5 %
Brick to buy14,400 brick
| Net wall area | 2,000 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Brick per sq ft | 6.86 |
| Brick before waste | 13,715 |
| Courses | 37at 2.625 in per course |
| Mortar in the joints | 110.6 cu ft |
| Mortar to buy | 221.2 cu ftjoint volume doubled, see the assumptions |
| Mortar mix, 80 lb bags | 36937 brick per bag |
| Wall ties | 750 |
| Weep holes | 91 |
The material list this produces
| Brick | 14,400 |
|---|---|
| Mortar mix, 80 lb bags | 369 |
| Wall ties | 750 |
| Weep vents | 91 |
| Flashing, ft | 250 |
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 | 14,400 brick | 6.86 | 369 |
| Standard | 13,756 brick | 6.55 | 365 |
| Queen | 12,096 brick | 5.76 | 247 |
| Engineer | 11,859 brick | 5.65 | 321 |
| King | 10,080 brick | 4.8 | 242 |
| Utility | 6,300 brick | 3 | 246 |
What else matters here
Fourteen thousand four hundred brick is where the question quietly changes from what the material costs to how many days it takes, because on a wall this size the labor is the larger half of the bill.
Brick is priced and paid by the unit laid, not by the square foot, which is why the brick size table on this page moves the cost far more than it looks like it should. It is also why the count is the number to give a mason when asking for a price, along with the number of corners, the number of openings and whether there is a soldier course anywhere. A plain run and a run full of returns are different jobs at the same square footage.
The other quantity worth pricing at this size is scaffold. Fourteen thousand brick is not laid off the ground, and scaffold is rented by the week, so a job that slips from three weeks to five carries the rental with it. That is the cost that turns up on the final invoice and was never in the estimate.
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 do I need for 2,000 square feet?
14,400 modular brick, which is 13,715 for the wall plus five percent waste.
How is bricklaying priced?
By the unit laid rather than by the square foot, which is why the brick size changes the labor as much as the material. Give a mason the brick count, the number of corners and openings, and whether there are any soldier courses.
Is scaffold included in a brick quote?
Often not, and it is rented by the week. On a job of this size a delay carries the scaffold rental with it, so ask whether it is in the price and who pays if the schedule slips.
The brick calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.