How Many Bricks for 80 Square Feet?
Brick to buy
576 brick
80 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 length10 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 buy576 brick
| Net wall area | 80 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Brick per sq ft | 6.86 |
| Brick before waste | 549 |
| Courses | 37at 2.625 in per course |
| Mortar in the joints | 4.4 cu ft |
| Mortar to buy | 8.8 cu ftjoint volume doubled, see the assumptions |
| Mortar mix, 80 lb bags | 1537 brick per bag |
| Wall ties | 30 |
| Weep holes | 4 |
The material list this produces
| Brick | 576 |
|---|---|
| Mortar mix, 80 lb bags | 15 |
| Wall ties | 30 |
| Weep vents | 4 |
| Flashing, ft | 10 |
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 | 576 brick | 6.86 | 15 |
| Standard | 551 brick | 6.55 | 15 |
| Queen | 484 brick | 5.76 | 10 |
| Engineer | 475 brick | 5.65 | 13 |
| King | 404 brick | 4.8 | 10 |
| Utility | 252 brick | 3 | 10 |
What else matters here
Eighty square feet is a garden wall about ten feet long and waist high, or a short screen wall beside a patio, and it is the first size where the thing under the brick costs more thought than the brick.
A veneer hangs on a house and the house carries it. A freestanding garden wall carries itself, which means a footing below the frost line, and in a cold state that is a trench far deeper than the wall is tall. It also means a cap, because a wall with an open top takes water into the cores and the joints, and a brick that freezes wet is a brick that spalls.
That is also why the brick itself has to be rated for it. Severe weathering brick is a different product from the face brick that goes on the front of a house behind a roof overhang, and a garden wall, a planter or anything within a foot of the ground is where the difference shows up within a few winters.
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 80 square feet?
576 modular brick, which is 549 for the wall plus five percent waste.
Does a garden wall need a footing?
Yes, and a deeper one than the wall suggests. A freestanding wall carries its own weight and has to sit below the frost line, which in a cold climate is well below the depth people expect.
What brick should a garden wall be?
One rated for severe weathering, not ordinary face brick. A freestanding wall gets wet from the top and sits near the ground, and face brick in that position spalls after a few freeze cycles.
The brick calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.