Brick Calculator
Work out how many bricks a wall takes before you order them.
Give the wall its length and height, make it half a brick or one brick thick, choose the bond, the brick size and the mortar joint, and add its doors and windows. The wall is laid brick by brick in the view, and below it the calculator counts the whole and cut bricks, adds an allowance for breakages, and works out the mortar, cement and sand to lay them.
Brick sizes
Imperial, 222 x 106 x 73 mm, is the everyday South African clay brick. Maxi, 290 x 140 x 90 mm, lays a wall in fewer, larger bricks. The UK standard brick is 215 x 102.5 x 65 mm and the US modular brick 194 x 92 x 57 mm. Each is sized so that two widths and a 10 mm joint make one length, which is what lets a one-brick wall close up square at its ends and corners.
Bonds
Stretcher bond moves each course half a brick along, so no joint runs up the wall. It is the bond for a wall half a brick thick, and for each leaf of a one-brick wall tied together with wall ties. Stack bond lines every joint up: it looks clean, but it is weak and needs brickforce in its bed joints. English bond lays a course of stretchers and a course of headers in turn; the headers run through the wall and tie its two leaves together, so it is always one brick thick.
How it counts
The wall is built to the nearest whole course of the height you give, and every course is set out from the left end. A door is 900 x 2100 mm and a window 1200 x 1000 mm on a 900 mm sill, both rounded to whole courses and spaced evenly along the wall. Every cut piece is counted as a brick, so the count errs high.
The mortar is what the joints hold, with half as much again for frogs, droppings and uneven bricks. Its cement and sand are worked out by volume from the mix, with cement in 50 kg bags. Tick Show cut bricks under Order to see every brick that needs cutting.