How To Calculate Materials For Brickwork

In this post, you’ll learn:

• How to calculate the quantity of brickwork in a wall?
• What materials are needed for brickwork?
• How to calculate the required number of bricks?
• How to calculate the quantity of mortar for brickwork?
• How to calculate required cement quantity?
• How to calculate required sand quantity?

After discussing the detailed calculating process, I’ll show you a quick tip at the end of the post.

So that, you can easily calculate the required number of Bricks, Sand, and Cement for any quantity of brickwork.

So, let’s start with…

How To Calculate The Quantity Of Brickwork In A Wall?

It’s simple. You just need to get the area of the wall and deduct the area of openings (if any).

For example, here is a wall:

This is an example of a 5 inches thick brick wall.

To calculate the quantity of brickwork:

First, Calculate The Area Of The Wall.

The formula is,

= Length × height

= 12’-4” × 10’-0”

= 123.33 square feet.

Next, Calculate The Area Of The Opening.

The formula is,

= Length of the opening × Height of the opening

= 3’-4” × 7’-0”

= 23.33 square feet.

Finally, Get The Quantity Of Brickwork.

The formula is,

= Area of the wall — Area of the opening

= 123.33 — 23.33

= 100 square feet.

What Materials Are Needed For Brickwork?

Basically, two materials are needed for brickwork — Brick, and Cement-Mortar.

The standard size of a brick is 9½″×4½″×2¾″.

And, cement mortar can be prepared on-site by mixing sand and cement or bought premixed mortar.

How To Calculate The Number Of Bricks For Brickwork

For that:

First, Calculate The Volume Of The Brickwork.

The area of the brickwork is 100 square feet (we calculated this above).

As it’s a single-layer brick wall, the thickness of the wall is 4½″ (0.375′).

So, the volume of the brickwork will be,

= 100 × 0.375

= 37.5 cubic feet.

Next, Calculate The Volume Of A Brick (including mortar).

We know, the standard size of a brick is 9½″×4½″×2¾″.

Normally, half-inch thick mortar layer is used for bricklaying. So, the size of brick including mortar will be 10″×4½″×3¼″.

So, the volume will be,

= 10″ × 4½″ × 3¼″

= 146.25 cubic inches.

Or, 0.084 cubic feet.

Finally, Calculate The Required Number Of Bricks.

And, the formula is,

= Volume of the brickwork ÷ Volume of a brick (including mortar)

= 37.50 ÷ 0.084

= 446.42 nos.

Say, 447 nos.

How To Calculate The Quantity Of Mortar For Brickwork

For calculating mortar quantity:

First, Calculate The Volume Of A Brick.

Which is,

= 9½″ × 4½″ × 2¾″

= 117.56 cubic inches.

Or, 0.068 cubic feet.

Next, Calculate The Total Volume Of The Required Number Of Bricks.

The formula is,

= Required number of bricks × Volume of a brick

= 447 × 0.068

= 30.39 cubic feet.

Now, Calculate The Required Volume Of Mortar.

The formula is,

= Volume of brickwork — Volume of the required number of bricks

= 37.5 — 30.39

= 7.11 cubic feet.

How To Calculate Required Cement Quantity For Brickwork

To calculate the required cement quantity:

First, Calculate The Dry Volume Of Mortar.

The required mortar volume for our brickwork is 7.11 cubic feet (We calculated this above).

But that is the wet volume of mortar.

The dry volume is,

= 7.11 × 1.33

= 9.45 cubic feet.

Read More: Dry Volume Of Cement Mortar: Everything You Need To Know

Next, Calculate The Volume Of Cement In The Mortar

The formula is,

= (Dry volume of mortar ÷ Sum of ratio) × Cement ratio

= (9.45 ÷ 5) × 1

[Note: Most of the time, 1:4 cement-sand ratio is used to prepare mortar for brickwork]

= 1.89 cubic feet.

Now, Convert Cement Volume Into Bags.

The formula is,

= Volume of required cement ÷ Volume of one bag cement.

= 1.89 ÷ 1.25 (1 bag cement = 1.25 cubic feet)

= 1.51 bag.

How To Calculate Required Sand Quantity For Brickwork

The formula for calculating sand quantity is,

= (Dry volume of mortar ÷ Sum of ratio) × Sand ratio

= (9.45 ÷ 5) × 4

= 7.56 cubic feet.

Summary:

Required materials for 100 square feet brickwork:

• Bricks = 447 nos

• Cement = 1.51 bags

• Sand = 7.56 cubic feet

Adding 10% wastage:

• Bricks = 492 nos

• Cement = 1.66 bags

• Sand = 8.32 cubic feet

But in my experience, I found that, the required materials for 100 square feet of brickwork:

• Bricks = 500 nos

• Cement = 2 bags

• Sand = 10 cubic feet

A Quick Tip For Calculating Materials For Brickwork

Now I’ll show you a quick tip. Applying this, you can calculate the required materials for any quantity of brickwork within minutes.

As we now know, for 100 square feet of brickwork, required materials are:

• Bricks = 500 nos

• Cement = 2 bags

• Sand = 10 cubic feet

So, for one square feet brickwork:

• Bricks = 5 nos

• Cement = 0.02 bags

• Sand = 0.10 cubic feet

Now you can calculate materials for any quantity of brickwork.

Let’s say, you need to calculate materials for 500 square feet of brickwork.

For that:

• Bricks = 5 nos × 500 = 2500 nos

• Cement = 0.02 bags × 500 = 10 bags

• Sand = 0.10 cubic feet × 500 = 50 cubic feet

So, the quick formula is,

Required materials for brickwork = Required material per square feet × Quantity of brickwork

Conclusion

This calculation is for a single-layer brick wall, which we call 5 inches thick brick wall.

If the thickness of the wall varies then the required materials will also be different.

Generally, 5” and 10” thick brick walls are most commonly used in residential buildings. Sometimes 3” thick wall is also used.

I’ve discussed how to calculate materials for 10 inches thick brick wall here.

And,

How To Calculate Materials For 3” Brickwork here.

Your Turn:

What size of bricks or blocks do you use in your construction project?

Please share your opinion in the comments below…