How Many Bricks for 900 Square Feet?
Brick to buy
6,480 brick
900 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 length112.5 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 buy6,480 brick
| Net wall area | 900 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Brick per sq ft | 6.86 |
| Brick before waste | 6,172 |
| Courses | 37at 2.625 in per course |
| Mortar in the joints | 49.8 cu ft |
| Mortar to buy | 99.5 cu ftjoint volume doubled, see the assumptions |
| Mortar mix, 80 lb bags | 16637 brick per bag |
| Wall ties | 338 |
| Weep holes | 41 |
The material list this produces
| Brick | 6,480 |
|---|---|
| Mortar mix, 80 lb bags | 166 |
| Wall ties | 338 |
| Weep vents | 41 |
| Flashing, ft | 113 |
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 | 6,480 brick | 6.86 | 166 |
| Standard | 6,190 brick | 6.55 | 165 |
| Queen | 5,444 brick | 5.76 | 111 |
| Engineer | 5,337 brick | 5.65 | 145 |
| King | 4,536 brick | 4.8 | 109 |
| Utility | 2,835 brick | 3 | 111 |
What else matters here
Nine hundred square feet of elevation is enough wall to have real openings in it, and the deduction field is the input on this calculator most often left at zero when it should not be.
Brick does not span. Every opening needs a steel angle or a masonry arch carrying the brick above it, and that lintel has to bear a proper length onto solid brick at each end rather than just reaching the edge of the hole. It also has to be the right steel: an angle sized for a three foot window is not the angle for a sixteen foot garage opening, and the one over a garage is usually the heaviest single item in a brick job.
Deduct the openings and you lose brick from the order. Forget to allow for the lintels and you lose the schedule, because they are ordered from a supplier rather than picked off a shelf, and the wall stops at that course until they arrive.
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 900 square feet?
6,480 modular brick, which is 6,172 for the wall plus five percent waste.
How do I account for windows in a brick order?
Put the total opening area into the deduction field. At 6.86 brick a square foot the saving is real, and on an elevation with several windows and a door it is most of a cube.
What carries the brick over a window?
A steel lintel or a masonry arch, bearing onto solid brick at each end rather than stopping at the edge of the opening. Brick has no span of its own. The angle has to be sized for the opening, and the one over a garage door is usually the heaviest piece in the job.
The brick calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.