How Many Bricks for 50 Square Feet?
Brick to buy
360 brick
50 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 length6.25 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 buy360 brick
| Net wall area | 50 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Brick per sq ft | 6.86 |
| Brick before waste | 343 |
| Courses | 37at 2.625 in per course |
| Mortar in the joints | 2.8 cu ft |
| Mortar to buy | 5.5 cu ftjoint volume doubled, see the assumptions |
| Mortar mix, 80 lb bags | 1034 brick per bag |
| Wall ties | 19 |
| Weep holes | 3 |
The material list this produces
| Brick | 360 |
|---|---|
| Mortar mix, 80 lb bags | 10 |
| Wall ties | 19 |
| Weep vents | 3 |
| Flashing, ft | 7 |
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 | 360 brick | 6.86 | 10 |
| Standard | 344 brick | 6.55 | 10 |
| Queen | 303 brick | 5.76 | 7 |
| Engineer | 297 brick | 5.65 | 9 |
| King | 252 brick | 4.8 | 7 |
| Utility | 158 brick | 3 | 7 |
What else matters here
Fifty square feet is the smallest job worth calculating rather than guessing, and it is usually a piece of something rather than a wall: the face of a stoop, a low return beside a door, the visible side of a chimney chase.
The thing that catches people at this size is that brick is not sold by the brick. It arrives strapped in cubes, and the count in a cube is set by the manufacturer rather than by any standard, so a yard selling you 360 is breaking a strap to do it. Ask what the cube count is before you order, because buying loose is usually dearer per brick and some suppliers will not do it at all.
Mortar has the same problem in reverse. Ten bags is a pallet corner, not a pallet, and mixing it by hand in a tub is entirely reasonable at this size. Above about thirty bags it stops being reasonable and a mixer starts paying for itself in the first morning.
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 50 square feet?
360 modular brick, which is 343 for the wall itself plus a five percent waste allowance.
Can I buy brick loose instead of by the cube?
Sometimes. Brick is strapped in cubes and the count per cube is set by the maker, so a small order means breaking a strap. It usually costs more per brick and some suppliers decline it, so ask before you plan the job around it.
How much mortar for 50 square feet of brick?
About 10 bags of 80 lb mortar mix, working on roughly 37 brick to a bag.
The brick calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.