Wall faces · mortar joints · whole bricks
Brick Calculator
Estimate bricks for a single-wythe wall or veneer from wall faces, excluded openings, actual brick face dimensions, and mortar joints. Add waste, round to whole bricks or packs, and calculate optional brick material cost.
Worked example
- Face module
- 8 × 2.625 in
- Extra allowance
- 10%
- Before whole-pack rounding
- 755 whole bricks
Illustrative example. Measurements, allowances, product details, and prices are not prefilled from this example.
Your result
Know the area before you shop
Enter your dimensions to see net square footage, metric conversions, and a section-by-section breakdown here.
Suggest an improvement
Choose and measure
Estimate wall bricks, not a complete masonry installation
This brick wall calculator estimates a single wythe or veneer. Mortar joints affect the face module and therefore brick count, but the tool does not calculate mortar quantity. The entered price covers purchased bricks, not labor, mortar, reinforcement, delivery, or tax.
For brick paving, use the Paver Calculator with the exposed paving face and installation details. For wall faces and openings that need measuring first, use the Square Footage Calculator.
Measure first
Measure the wall face and use one brick module.
Add wall faces or triangular gables and subtract doors and windows once. For actual face dimensions, add the uniform mortar joint once to length and height. Nominal module dimensions already include joints. One calculation covers one brick face and a single wythe; thickness and special bonds need a separate takeoff.
Net wall face
Included wall face area minus excluded openings. A triangular gable is base × perpendicular height ÷ 2.
Face module
Actual module area = (face length + joint) × (face height + joint). For nominal modules, use the entered length × height directly; no second joint is added.
Whole bricks and packs
Divide net area by module area, apply waste, then round up to whole bricks. Whole-pack purchasing rounds that count to a multiple of the entered pack size.
Material cost
Purchased bricks × the entered price per brick. Pack surplus is shown separately; the estimate excludes mortar, structural materials, labor, delivery, and tax.
From measurement to purchase
For 100 sq ft, a 7.625 × 2.25 in actual face with 0.375 in joints has a 21 sq in module. It requires 100 × 144 ÷ 21 = 685.714 installed brick equivalents. With 10% waste, round up to 755 bricks. If you select whole 500-brick packs, buy 1,000 bricks. At an illustrative $0.50 per purchased brick, that whole-pack option costs $500.
FAQ
Brick planning questions
How many bricks are needed per square foot?
It depends on the face module. The editable actual-size example with 0.375 in joints gives about 6.857 bricks per sq ft. An 8 × 2⅔ in nominal module gives 6.75. Use the dimensions and joints specified for your product; neither number is universal.
Should I enter nominal or actual brick dimensions?
Use actual face dimensions plus the separate mortar joint, or nominal module dimensions that already include the joint. Switching modes preserves the module instead of adding the joint twice.
Does this cover paving or load-bearing design?
This is an area-based single-wythe wall or veneer estimate. Paving uses a different exposed face; multi-wythe walls, headers, corners, bond patterns and structural requirements need a separate takeoff.
Does it calculate mortar?
No universal mortar yield is assumed. Use the specified mortar product and application coverage to estimate mortar separately.
References
Check product specifications before ordering.
Brick Industry Association: dimensioning and estimating
Trade guidance on specified and nominal brick dimensions and estimating.
View reference ↗