Brick Calculator
Enter the wall size and pick your brick: you get the brick count with a waste allowance, the mortar volume, and the sand it takes. Counts and mortar quantities come from Table 4 of the Brick Industry Association's Technical Notes 10 — the reference American masons estimate from.
Brick to order
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Results are estimates for planning purposes. Verify with your supplier, engineer, or a qualified professional before ordering material or performing work.
Brick per 100 square feet and mortar per 1,000 brick
| Brick | Specified size (W × H × L) | Brick per 100 ft² | Mortar per 1,000 brick, 3/8 in joint | 1/2 in joint |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modular | 3⅝ × 2¼ × 7⅝ in | 675 | 8.1 ft³ | 10.3 ft³ |
| Standard | 3⅝ × 2¼ × 8 in | 655 | 14.5 ft³ | 17.8 ft³ |
| Engineer Modular | 3⅝ × 2¹³⁄₁₆ × 7⅝ in | 563 | 8.5 ft³ | 10.8 ft³ |
| Queen | 2¾ × 2¾ × 7⅝ in | 550 | 12.2 ft³ | 13.5 ft³ |
| King | 2¾ × 2⅝ × 9⅝ in | 455 | 14.2 ft³ | 16.0 ft³ |
| Closure Modular | 3⅝ × 3⅝ × 7⅝ in | 450 | 9.1 ft³ | 11.6 ft³ |
| Norman | 3⅝ × 2¼ × 11⅝ in | 450 | 11.2 ft³ | 14.3 ft³ |
| Utility | 3⅝ × 3⅝ × 11⅝ in | 300 | 12.3 ft³ | 15.7 ft³ |
| Meridian | 3⅝ × 3⅝ × 15⅝ in | 225 | 15.4 ft³ | 19.7 ft³ |
BIA Technical Notes 10 Table 4. Brick counts do not change with joint thickness because modular sizing already accounts for the joint; mortar volumes do. The volumes are the theoretical mortar in the wall for fully bedded solid units, before waste — BIA's own instruction is to add 15 to 25%. Roman, Engineer Norman, Engineer Standard and Closure Standard are in the selector above with their published values.
Bags of mortar: read the bag, not a rule of thumb
This calculator gives you mortar as a volume, because that is what the industry tables actually publish. The published bag figures rest on different mixes and different bases, and they do not agree:
- QUIKRETE's Mason Mix data sheet: 37 standard bricks per 80 lb bag of preblended Type S mortar.
- The mason's rule of thumb quoted by BIA: 8 bags of masonry cement per 1,000 modular brick — which BIA itself calls "a very rough estimate" that "includes an unspecified amount of waste". Masonry cement is mixed with sand on site, so a bag of it makes far more mortar than a bag of preblended mix.
Divide your mortar volume by the yield printed on the product you are buying, and buy a bag or two more than the math says. For concrete block, the published yields are per unit rather than per volume — that is what the concrete block calculator and the mortar calculator use.
What the tables assume
- Nominal, specified, actual. A modular brick is nominally 4 × 2⅔ × 8 in, specified 3⅝ × 2¼ × 7⅝ in, and the brick that comes off the truck is within a tolerance of that. Order and specify by the specified dimensions: BIA warns that brick names vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.
- Running bond unless you say otherwise. Table 4 assumes running or stack bond. Header courses add brick and mortar, and BIA's corrections only apply to brick whose length is twice its depth and two and a half to three times its height.
- Collar joints are extra. A solidly filled vertical joint between two wythes takes another 3.13 ft³ of mortar per 100 ft² at 3/8 in, 4.17 ft³ at 1/2 in (BIA Table 5). It is not in the result above.
- Hollow brick. In veneer laid in a full bed, mortar use is effectively the same as solid brick. With face shell bedding, BIA allows cutting the mortar estimate by the void percentage, typically 25 to 35%.
- Partial brick counts. BIA's guidance for layout: include the cut brick needed to keep the bond at corners and openings — they are brick you paid for.
How it's calculated
- Net wall area
A (ft²) = length (ft) × height (ft) − openings (ft²)- Net brick count
brick = A / 100 × (brick per 100 ft²) × (1 + bond correction)Brick per 100 ft² from BIA Technical Notes 10 Table 4: 675 modular, 655 standard, 550 queen, 455 king, 450 norman and closure modular, 300 utility, 225 meridian. Bond corrections from Table 6 are a net increase: 1/5 for common bond with headers every fifth course, 1/2 for English bond, 1/3 for Flemish.- Brick to order
order = ceiling( net brick × (1 + brick waste % / 100) )BIA: as a general rule add at least 5% for breakage and waste; particular job conditions may warrant more.- Mortar volume
mortar (ft³) = net brick / 1000 × (ft³ per 1000 brick) × (1 + mortar bond correction) × (1 + mortar waste % / 100)Cubic feet per 1,000 brick from BIA Table 4 — 8.1 for modular at a 3/8 in joint, 10.3 at 1/2 in, 14.5 for standard at 3/8 in. These are theoretical volumes of mortar in the wall for fully bedded solid units, before waste; BIA's mortar bond corrections are 1/15 for common bond every fifth course, 1/6 for English, 1/9 for Flemish.- Sand
sand (ft³) ≈ mortar (ft³) ; 1 ton damp loose sand = 25 ft³BIA's rule of thumb: 1 cubic foot of loose, damp sand yields about 1 cubic foot of mortar. The ton-to-volume conversion is NCMA's.- Collar joint (multi-wythe)
collar mortar (ft³ per 100 ft²) = 2.08 at 1/4 in, 3.13 at 3/8 in, 4.17 at 1/2 in, 6.25 at 3/4 inBIA Table 5, for a vertical joint between wythes designed to be filled solid. Not included in the result above.
Frequently asked questions
About 6.75 modular bricks per square foot of wall, which is the 675 per 100 ft² published in BIA Technical Notes 10 Table 4 for a 3⅝ × 2¼ × 7⅝ in brick with 3/8 in joints. Standard brick runs 6.55 per square foot, queen 5.5, king 4.55, utility 3.0.
For modular brick with 3/8 in joints, BIA gives 8.1 ft³ per 1,000 brick as the theoretical volume in the wall, or 10.3 ft³ with 1/2 in joints. Add 15 to 25% for waste, so budget roughly 10 ft³ for a thousand modular brick.
Modular brick is sized so the brick plus its mortar joint lands on a 4 in module: a 7⅝ in brick with a 3/8 in joint gives 8 in, and three courses give exactly 16 in of height with 2¼ in brick. Standard brick is 8 in long, so it does not fit the module, and layout has to be worked out from the brick plus joint dimension instead.
Yes, when it includes headers. BIA Table 6 gives the net increase: one fifth more brick for common bond with full headers every fifth course, one third more for Flemish bond, half again for English bond. Running and stack bond need no correction.
BIA says at least 5% on the net brick quantity, and 15 to 25% on the mortar. Cut brick at corners and openings, breakage in handling and mortar dropped off the board are all real. Both allowances are fields in this calculator.
QUIKRETE publishes 37 standard bricks per 80 lb bag of its Mason Mix. Masons also use a rule of thumb of eight bags of masonry cement per 1,000 modular brick, which BIA quotes but calls very rough. The two figures rest on different mixes and different bases, so use the coverage printed on the bag you are actually buying.
Not in veneer. BIA reports that a veneer of hollow brick with 25 to 35% voids laid in a full mortar bed does not use significantly more or less mortar than solid units. Where hollow units are laid with face shell bedding, which is typical in structural work, BIA allows reducing the mortar estimate by the percentage of voids — usually 25 to 35%.
Sources & references
- Brick Industry Association — Technical Notes 10, Dimensioning and Estimating Brick Masonry (February 2009): brick sizes (Tables 1-2), quantity estimates (Table 4), collar joints (Table 5), bond pattern corrections (Table 6), waste allowances
- QUIKRETE Mason Mix (Type S Mortar) No. 1136 — product data sheet, revised November 2020: 37 standard bricks per 80 lb bag, 5 qt of water per bag, ASTM C270 and C1714 Type S
- NCMA TEK 4-2A — Estimating Concrete Masonry Materials (2004): sand conversion (1 ton damp loose sand = 25 ft³) and mortar batch yields
Content checked against these sources — last reviewed August 29, 2026.