Brick Calculator

Measure the wall, pick your brick and bond, and get a brick count and a mortar volume straight from the Brick Industry Association's estimating tables — not from a rule of thumb. This is the first calculator here that counts units instead of measuring a volume.

How this is calculated

Wall faces are summed and any openings you enter are subtracted: net area = measured area − openings.
Brick = net area ÷ 100 × the published count per 100 sq ft for your brick size and joint.
Mortar = net area ÷ 100 × the published cubic feet per 100 sq ft, a theoretical joint volume with no waste in it.
If your bond uses headers, the cited correction is added to both as its own line — × (1 + factor), the source's net increase.
No breakage or cutting allowance is applied, because none is published. Add your own.

Data used, with sources

Value	Used as	Source
Modular — nominal 2⅔ × 8 in face	⅜ in joint: 675 brick and 5.5 cu ft mortar per 100 sq ft (8.1 cu ft per 1000 brick); ½ in joint: 675 brick and 6.9 cu ft mortar per 100 sq ft (10.3 cu ft per 1000 brick)	Brick Industry Association
Engineer Modular — nominal 3.2 × 8 in face	⅜ in joint: 563 brick and 4.8 cu ft mortar per 100 sq ft (8.5 cu ft per 1000 brick); ½ in joint: 563 brick and 6.1 cu ft mortar per 100 sq ft (10.8 cu ft per 1000 brick)	Brick Industry Association
Closure Modular — nominal 4 × 8 in face	⅜ in joint: 450 brick and 4.1 cu ft mortar per 100 sq ft (9.1 cu ft per 1000 brick); ½ in joint: 450 brick and 5.2 cu ft mortar per 100 sq ft (11.6 cu ft per 1000 brick)	Brick Industry Association
Roman — nominal 2 × 12 in face	⅜ in joint: 600 brick and 6.4 cu ft mortar per 100 sq ft (10.7 cu ft per 1000 brick); ½ in joint: 600 brick and 8.2 cu ft mortar per 100 sq ft (13.7 cu ft per 1000 brick)	Brick Industry Association
Norman — nominal 2⅔ × 12 in face	⅜ in joint: 450 brick and 5.1 cu ft mortar per 100 sq ft (11.2 cu ft per 1000 brick); ½ in joint: 450 brick and 6.5 cu ft mortar per 100 sq ft (14.3 cu ft per 1000 brick)	Brick Industry Association
Utility — nominal 4 × 12 in face	⅜ in joint: 300 brick and 3.7 cu ft mortar per 100 sq ft (12.3 cu ft per 1000 brick); ½ in joint: 300 brick and 4.7 cu ft mortar per 100 sq ft (15.7 cu ft per 1000 brick)	Brick Industry Association
Standard — specified 2.25 × 8 in face	⅜ in joint: 655 brick and 9.5 cu ft mortar per 100 sq ft (14.5 cu ft per 1000 brick)	Brick Industry Association
Queen — specified 2.75 × 7.625 in face	⅜ in joint: 550 brick and 6.7 cu ft mortar per 100 sq ft (12.2 cu ft per 1000 brick); ½ in joint: 550 brick and 7.4 cu ft mortar per 100 sq ft (13.5 cu ft per 1000 brick)	Brick Industry Association
King — specified 2.625 × 9.625 in face	⅜ in joint: 455 brick and 6.5 cu ft mortar per 100 sq ft (14.2 cu ft per 1000 brick); ½ in joint: 455 brick and 7.3 cu ft mortar per 100 sq ft (16 cu ft per 1000 brick)	Brick Industry Association
Common bond, full headers every fifth course	net increase of 20 % on the brick count and 6.7 % on mortar	Brick Industry Association
Common bond, full headers every sixth course	net increase of 16.7 % on the brick count and 5.6 % on mortar	Brick Industry Association
Common bond, full headers every seventh course	net increase of 14.3 % on the brick count and 4.8 % on mortar	Brick Industry Association
English bond (full headers every second course)	net increase of 50 % on the brick count and 16.7 % on mortar	Brick Industry Association
Flemish bond (alternate headers and stretchers every course)	net increase of 33.3 % on the brick count and 11.1 % on mortar	Brick Industry Association
Flemish cross bond (Flemish headers every second course)	net increase of 16.7 % on the brick count and 5.6 % on mortar	Brick Industry Association
Double-stretcher garden wall bond	net increase of 20 % on the brick count and 6.7 % on mortar	Brick Industry Association

Modular and non-modular, and why it matters

Brick comes in two families, and mixing them up is how estimates go wrong. Modular brick are sized so the unit plus its intended mortar joint equals a round number: a modular brick is 7⅝ inches long so that with a ⅜ inch joint it occupies exactly 8 inches of wall. Because the joint is already inside the nominal dimension, the published brick count is the same at ⅜ and ½ inch joints — only the mortar changes. Three courses of modular brick plus their joints come to 8 inches too, which is what makes brickwork line up with block and with window openings.

Non-modular brick — Standard, Queen, King — are listed at their actual size, so the joint is genuinely extra and the coursing does not land on a neat module. They are extremely common in US residential work, which is why they are here, but they are the reason two walls of the same area can need noticeably different quantities.

Bond patterns cost brick

A running bond shows nothing but stretchers — every brick lies lengthways and its face is what you see. Any bond with headers turns bricks end-on into the wall, so a brick that would have covered 8 inches of face now covers about 4, and the count per square foot rises. The published corrections are net increases: an English bond, with headers every second course, needs half as many bricks again. Flemish adds a third. Even a common bond with headers only every fifth course adds a fifth.

Mortar rises too, but by much less — a third to a sixth of the brick increase, depending on the pattern — because headers add face joints without adding bed joints. That asymmetry is why the calculator applies two different factors rather than scaling everything together. The mortar result is a volume rather than a bag count; if you are buying the sand for it loose, the sand calculator turns a volume like that into yards, tons or bags.

Common mistakes

Using one "bricks per square foot" number. Across the nine sizes here the published figure runs from 2.25 to 6.75 per square foot — a factor of three.
Adding brick for a thicker joint on modular brick. The joint is already in the nominal size. Add mortar, not brick.
Forgetting the bond correction. Choosing English bond after estimating a running bond leaves you 50 % short.
Ordering the exact count. The published quantities explicitly exclude breakage and waste, and no source will tell you what to add.
Deducting openings at face value. Jambs, sills and heads need cut brick, so the real saving is less than the hole.
Estimating a soil-retaining wall as brickwork. A wall holding back ground is a structure with its own rules — the retaining wall calculator carries the cited height threshold and the gravel that goes with it.

Frequently asked

How many bricks per square foot?

It depends on the size, and the published figures range from 3 to 6.75 brick per square foot across the nine sizes on this page. The two most common: modular brick is 675 per 100 square feet — 6.75 per square foot — and standard brick is 655 per 100, or 6.55 per square foot. Those are the Brick Industry Association's published quantities, not a rule of thumb.

Why does the brick count not change when I change the joint thickness?

Because for modular brick it genuinely does not. Modular brick are manufactured so that the unit plus its intended mortar joint equals a whole module — a modular brick is specified at 7⅝ inches long precisely so that with a ⅜ inch joint it occupies 8 inches. Change the joint and the manufacturer changes the brick, so the wall still takes the same number. What does change is the mortar: a ½ inch joint uses noticeably more. Non-modular brick like Standard and Queen are listed at their actual size, so the joint is genuinely extra there.

How much mortar do I need for 1,000 bricks?

Between 8.1 and 16 cubic feet depending on the brick size and joint — bigger brick means fewer joints per square foot but more mortar per brick. Modular brick at a ⅜ inch joint is 8.1 cubic feet per 1000. Those are theoretical joint volumes with no waste in them. Masons often work from a cruder rule instead — about eight bags of masonry cement per 1000 modular brick — which the source calls "a very rough estimate" that "includes an unspecified amount of waste".

Does the bond pattern change how many bricks I need?

Substantially, if it uses headers. A running or stack bond needs no correction. Everything else turns bricks sideways into the wall, so more of them are hidden and the face count goes up: an English bond adds 50 %, a Flemish bond 33 %, and a common bond with headers every fifth course 20 %. The source's own worked example: standard brick at a ⅜ inch joint in that common bond comes to 786 brick per 100 square feet instead of 655, with mortar rising to 15.5 cubic feet per 1000.

How much extra should I order for breakage?

We do not put a number on it, and neither does the source — it says estimates should be modified "for bond pattern, breakage and waste" but only publishes factors for the first. How much you lose depends on how many cuts your layout forces, how the brick travels, and how carefully it is handled. Ask your supplier what they see on jobs like yours, and order in whole cubes if you can, since a part cube is usually the expensive way to buy the last hundred brick.

How do I allow for doors and windows?

Measure the wall as if it were solid, then put the total area of the openings into the deduction field. The calculator subtracts it before counting. Two cautions: openings need brick around and over them, so the saving is smaller than the arithmetic suggests once you allow for cutting at the jambs, and a soldier course or arch over an opening is extra brick this page does not know about.

Sources

Technical Note 10: Dimensioning and Estimating Brick Masonry (February 2009) — Brick Industry Association, accessed Aug 11, 2026.

Quantities on this page are planning estimates, not engineering advice or a purchase guarantee — product sizes vary by producer, so confirm coverage with your supplier before ordering. Structural brickwork, lintels over openings, and anything carrying load are governed by your drawings and local code, not by this estimate.