Brick Calculator — Bricks and Mortar per Wall

Brick and bags of mortar mix for one wall. Two publishers count brick differently, and the page asks whose count to use.

Showing US units

Brick to buy EXAMPLE986 brickModular, 3-5/8 x 2-1/4 x 7-5/8 in each, 5% extra for wasteand 27 bags (80 lb each) of Type N mortar mix, the type this count is for

An answer marked EXAMPLE is worked out from the page’s sample values. Type your own over the values marked SAMPLE to make it yours.

ftSAMPLE

Measured from where the brick face starts to where it stops or turns a corner, along the face of the brickwork, one rectangle at a time. A wall that turns a corner is two rectangles and they are counted separately, because the corner belongs to both of them and the brick that keeps the bond around it is not counted here at all. If the box rejects the number as too large, check the unit first — a run typed in inches, or in millimeters, is the usual cause.

ftSAMPLE

Measured from the bottom of the brickwork to the top of it. Not the height of the room behind it. If the brick stops at a band course or a sill, measure to there and count the rest as its own rectangle.

sq ftSAMPLE

The area of each door, window and vent opening in the brick face, measured out to the brick around it, all of them added together. 0 is a blank wall. The published method is the wall-area method: the gross rectangle less the openings, then the brick figure applied to what is left. The sample’s openings drop to 0 as soon as you enter a measurement of your own wall, so a blank wall needs nothing typed here. Note what this does not add back — the returns into a reveal, and the brick cut to keep the bond at a jamb.

These are eight of the twenty-four size rows the trade association publishes a count for — seven of its rows carry no designation at all. Queen is left off because three publishers print three different bricks under that name, and King is left off with it because the publishers do not agree on its width either. A manufacturer prints the same count for the same dimensions, but that is a second publisher of the figure rather than a second measurement of it: the manufacturer’s own estimating section cites the association’s technical note, and brick per square foot is fixed by the face of the brick and its joint, so the two could not have disagreed. Pick by the dimensions rather than by the name, and check them against what a supplier actually stocks: the association warns in its own footnotes that a name can vary from maker to maker and that the sizes themselves vary within a range.

The only size where the two published figures disagree.

Two conventions, both published, and up to 1.6 percent apart. They differ in what they assume about the bed joint, not in how they count. The gap is the Modular’s: on the closure and utility sizes the specified brick plus a three-eighths inch joint comes to exactly the nominal course, so the two conventions land on the same number there. The association figure exists for every size here; the manufacturers print theirs for three of them.

Starts at The Brick Industry Association — the Brick Industry Association’s count, published for every size in the list; a maker’s convention, printed for three sizes, can run up to 1.6 percent higher on a modular brick. Source

The count read off the nominal size — the brick with its joint already inside it — which is the grid the coursing and the openings of modular brickwork are set out on. On the Modular that is three courses to eight inches (203 mm); the other modular sizes course on their own nominal heights. The two non-modular sizes have no nominal size at all, so there the association reads its count off the specified brick. A figure is published for every size in the list above.

Running and stack bond need no correction at all — every brick is a stretcher, which is what the base table counts. The nine patterns below it carry headers, and each one has a published factor. Anything else has none, and the page will say so rather than guess.

The two thicknesses the association publishes. For a modular brick it does not move the count, because the nominal size already contains the joint — and the page says so on the answer rather than letting a control look busier than it is. It does decide whether the non-modular sizes and the manufacturer figures can be read at all.

A wythe is one thickness of brick. An anchored veneer on a house is one, and every count on this page is for one. If the wall is two, this calculator stops: nobody publishes a brick count for it, and how the two are tied or bonded together is a structural question.

Each maker publishes how many brick one 80 lb bag lays, but only one of them publishes it against brick on this list — for two of the sizes above. The other prints its yield against a brick of its own, 8 by 2 by 4 in, which is not a size here, so its figure is in the source list below and spent on nothing. The figures are not interchangeable, which is why this is a question rather than a constant.

Published for a modular brick as a range, and for a utility brick as one number.

Applies to Brick.

5%

Starts at 5%, the figure the Brick Industry Association publishes for waste and breakage, as a minimum. Its own wording is “at least” 5 percent; job conditions or experience may warrant more. Neither brick maker on the list prints a percentage of its own. It is added after the bond correction, which is the order the association sets. Source

Applies to Mortar mix.

0%

Starts at 0% — this calculator’s own starting point, not a published figure. TCC prints its brick-per-bag figures as subject to job site waste and gives no percentage. The Brick Industry Association’s 15 to 25 percent is added to a volume of mortar inside a finished wall, not to a count of bags, so the calculator does not carry it over and starts at none. Change it to how many extra bags to buy ahead for mortar lost while mixing and laying. Source

Brick to buy EXAMPLE986 brickModular, 3-5/8 x 2-1/4 x 7-5/8 in each, 5% extra for waste

Brick per square foot of wall face, divided down from the 100 sq ft the association prints it on Source 6.75

Brick one bag lays, from the maker of that bag Source 35

Mortar mix 27 bags (80 lb each) of Type N mortar mix, the type this count is for

A 20 ft wall 8 ft high with 21 sq ft of openings, laid and counted as chosen above.

Brick — how the quantity was worked out
The job needs938 brick
Plus 5% for waste985 brick
Buying 986 brick (Modular, 3-5/8 x 2-1/4 x 7-5/8 in each) covers986 brick
Left over1 brick

Each line is worked out on its own, so each can be checked on its own; the notes further down name the figures behind them.

Counted for one rectangle of wall face, one wythe thick, laid in the bond chosen. A chimney, a paved area and a thin-brick system are not counted here.

Not counted in these quantities: the returns into an opening; the extra brick a corner takes to keep the bond; a lintel or a sill; a soldier course or a rowlock cap; brick ties, flashing and weeps; brick cut and thrown away where the pattern meets an edge; mortar for the extra brick bought for waste and breakage, which are not laid.

The mortar bags are worked from the low end of the bag maker’s brick-per-bag range — this calculator’s own choice, not a publisher’s: so the wall does not stop for want of mortar. The mortar is counted for the brick the wall takes, not for the extra brick bought for waste and breakage — this calculator’s own choice, not a publisher’s: that extra replaces brick that break or are cut away rather than adding brick to the wall.

Net wall face — the rectangle less the openings139 sq ft

The top of the same maker’s printed range of brick per bag, which the order does not use Source40

  • The count above reads 6.75 brick to the square foot for the Modular, which is the Brick Industry Association’s figure divided down from the hundred square feet it is printed on. It comes off the NOMINAL size — the brick with its joint already inside it, which is what modular means — rather than off the brick alone, and that nominal size is the one printed in that option’s label. It is the same grid the coursing and the openings of modular brickwork are set out on. On the Modular it works out at three courses to eight inches. A manufacturer prints 6.86 for the same brick, reading the joint literally instead — the brick’s own height plus three-eighths of an inch. That difference is a convention rather than a mistake: both figures are current and both are first-party, and this page prints the one whose convention was chosen above rather than averaging the two. One manufacturer, Glen-Gery, is publishing both of those figures for this size right now, in two of its own documents. Source
  • Moving the joint above to a half inch would not change the brick count. That is not this page ignoring it. The trade association prints ONE count for a modular brick spanning both its published joint thicknesses, because a nominal size already contains its joint — which is the whole idea of modular dimensioning. What the joint does change is the mortar, and the bag figures in the result cannot be scaled to it either. Source
  • The bags come from the figure TCC Materials prints for how many brick one bag lays. This maker prints a range for this brick, 35 to 40 brick a bag, and the order above is worked from the bottom of it so that a wall does not stop for want of mortar. This maker's yield table says "All estimates are subject to mason/finisher practices, job site waste and style of units," and does not say whether its figures already include any waste. Nothing this page could find publishes a percentage to add to a bag count of pre-blended mortar for waste, so this page adds nothing to the count above for waste unless the Extra bags control is moved. The yield table this page reads prints no joint thickness against its brick rows, so the bag count does not move when the joint above does. And there is a second, entirely different family of published mortar figure — the volume sitting inside a finished wall, which the trade association tabulates. Nobody publishes the bridge between them, so this page answers in the unit a reader can buy and leaves the other family where it was printed. Source
  • This is a material list for a plain panel of brickwork, not a structural answer and not a compliance check. A wall that carries load, a pier, a freestanding garden wall in wind, or a veneer’s ties, air space and flashing are all governed elsewhere — by the masonry code the local jurisdiction adopts and by the building official who enforces it. The trade association whose table this page reads says the same thing about its own technical note: the decisions rest with the project architect, engineer and owner.
  • The mortar count is TCC Materials’ yield-table figure for its ‘MORTAR MIX - BRICK TYPE N’, so the line names Type N as the type the count is for. Which type a wall needs is a design decision this page does not make, and another maker’s printed yield may differ. Source

The printed list carries the quantities, the published figures behind them, and the wall they were worked from.

Brick Calculator — Bricks and Mortar per Wall

ConcreteTally

EXAMPLE — not a measured job. Every quantity below is worked out from this page’s sample measurements. Enter the real measurements and print it again before anyone orders from it.

Job / customer
Deliver to

Brick per square foot of wall face, divided down from the 100 sq ft the association prints it on: 6.75 [2]

Brick one bag lays, from the maker of that bag: 35 [8]

What to buy

MaterialBuyWhich isLeft over
Brick986 brick (Modular, 3-5/8 x 2-1/4 x 7-5/8 in each)986 brick1 brick
Mortar mix27 bags (80 lb each) of Type N mortar mix, the type this count is for945 brick7 brick
This calculator’s own choicesThe mortar bags are worked from the low end of the bag maker’s brick-per-bag range — this calculator’s own choice, not a publisher’s: so the wall does not stop for want of mortar. The mortar is counted for the brick the wall takes, not for the extra brick bought for waste and breakage — this calculator’s own choice, not a publisher’s: that extra replaces brick that break or are cut away rather than adding brick to the wall.

Counted for one rectangle of wall face, one wythe thick, laid in the bond chosen. A chimney, a paved area and a thin-brick system are not counted here.

Not counted in these quantities: the returns into an opening; the extra brick a corner takes to keep the bond; a lintel or a sill; a soldier course or a rowlock cap; brick ties, flashing and weeps; brick cut and thrown away where the pattern meets an edge; mortar for the extra brick bought for waste and breakage, which are not laid.

This sheet does not say the wall complies with anything. Every published figure behind it is in the source list at the end of this sheet, with the body that published it, and a wall that carries load, a pier or a freestanding wall in wind is governed by the masonry code the jurisdiction adopts. Where the sheet has a mortar line, its count is a published yield for the mortar type that line names; which mortar type a wall needs is not decided here, and another maker’s printed yield for another mix may differ.

Worked out from

Length of the wall faceMeasured from where the brick face starts to where it stops or turns a corner, along the face of the brickwork, one rectangle at a time.20 ft (sample)
Height of the wall faceMeasured from the bottom of the brickwork to the top of it.8 ft (sample)
Openings to take off — doors, windows, ventsThe area of each door, window and vent opening in the brick face, measured out to the brick around it, all of them added together.21 sq ft (sample)
Brick sizeModular — 4 x 2-2/3 x 8 in nominal (3-5/8 x 2-1/4 x 7-5/8 in specified)
Whose brick-per-square-foot figure?The Brick Industry Association — the nominal modular course
Bond patternRunning or stack bond — all stretchers, no correction
Mortar joint3/8 in (9.5 mm) — the narrower of the two the association publishes, and the only one the non-modular counts are read at
How many wythes thick?One — a veneer or a single-wythe wall
Whose bagged mortar mix?TCC Materials — a figure per brick designation
Material needed before waste — Brick938 brick
Amount needed — Mortar mix938 brick
Breakage — Brick5%, the figure the Brick Industry Association publishes [1]
Extra bags — Mortar mixnone — this calculator’s own starting point, not a published figure. TCC prints its brick-per-bag figures as subject to job site waste and gives no percentage. The Brick Industry Association’s 15 to 25 percent is added to a volume of mortar inside a finished wall, not to a count of bags, so the calculator does not carry it over and starts at none. [1]

Estimates only — check quantities before you buy. Confirm with your masonry supplier before ordering.

Where these figures come from

A number in brackets after a figure on this sheet is its entry in this list.

  1. The estimating method the published brick counts belong to (Technical Note 10, printed page 8 of 11, section heading "ESTIMATING BRICK MASONRY", first paragraph.); Breakage added to the net brick count, as a percentage (Technical Note 10, printed page 11 of 11, bold lead-in "Brick Breakage and Waste.", directly below the footnotes to TABLE 6.); The mortar figure the brick calculator does not use, and the reason it does not (Technical Note 10, printed page 11 of 11, bold lead-in "Mortar Waste.", the paragraph immediately after "Brick Breakage and Waste.") — Brick Industry Association, Trade association publication. Effective from February 2009. Page 1 prints "February 2009" and no day. Retrieved September 13, 2026.
  2. Brick per 100 sq ft of wall face, modular sizes — the trade association's table (Technical Note 10, printed page 9 of 11, section "Brick and Mortar Quantities", TABLE 4 "Quantity Estimates for Brick Masonry", band "MODULAR BRICK SIZES", column "Number of Brick per 100 sq ft (per 10 m2)".); Brick per 100 sq ft of wall face, non-modular sizes — the trade association's table (Technical Note 10, printed page 10 of 11, TABLE 4 (continued), band "NON-MODULAR BRICK SIZES", column "Number of Brick per 100 sq ft (per 10 m2)". Column 2 of this band is headed "Specified Dimensions, in. (mm)".); Specify brick by dimension, not by name — and the modular size roster the brick calculator's options come from (Technical Note 10, printed page 4 of 11, first body paragraph above TABLE 1 "Modular Brick Sizes" (sentences 2 to 4), with the table's own four footnotes.); Correction factors for bond patterns that carry headers, and the publisher's own worked example (Technical Note 10: TABLE 6 "Estimate Correction Factors for Bond Patterns" is on printed page 11 of 11, and the "Bond Pattern" lead-in and the worked example are one page earlier, on printed page 10. This entry cites both pages, because the sentence and the numbers it licenses are not printed together.); The one published multi-wythe figure — mortar in the collar joint between two wythes (Technical Note 10, printed page 10 of 11, bold lead-in "Collar Joints.", TABLE 5 "Mortar Quantities in Collar Joints".) — Brick Industry Association, Trade association publication. Effective from February 2009. Page 1 prints "February 2009" and no day. Retrieved October 11, 2026.
  3. Brick per square foot for 24 manufacturer sizes, with the vertical coursing each figure is built on (Extruded Brick Product Profile, printed page 5, TABLE 2 "Brick and Mortar Quantities", sub-caption "Nominal 3/8 Inch Mortar Joints", columns "Vertical Coursing in courses per inch" and "Units per square foot".) — Glen-Gery, Manufacturer or grower specification. Effective from January 2019. The header of every page reads "Revised 1/2019" — a month and a year, no day. Retrieved October 11, 2026.
  4. Brick per square foot for a modular brick — a manufacturer's literal-joint convention (Pocket Guide to Brick Construction, printed page 10 (PDF page 11 — the document opens on an unnumbered cover), section heading "COMMON BRICK SIZES", the first two boxed tables on that page — row "Modular" in the upper one and row "Economy Modular (Closure)" in the one below it — last column "Actual Units/SF" in each.) — Acme Brick Company, Manufacturer or grower specification. Effective from 2026. Every page footer reads "Copyright 2026 Acme Brick Company" and the cover reads "1891 - 2026"; no month or day is printed. The file name carries an earlier date stamp and must not be read as the edition date. Retrieved October 11, 2026.
  5. Brick per square foot for a modular brick, stated on a 3/8 in joint — a second manufacturer (Brick Sizes brochure, page 1, panel headed "MODULARbrick" — the headline line and the body paragraph beginning "It takes 6.86 brick".) — Glen-Gery, Manufacturer or grower specification. Effective from May 2022. The dateline reads "© 2022 Glen-Gery Corporation · 5/22" — a month and a year. Retrieved September 13, 2026.
  6. Brick per square foot for a utility-size brick, at a stated 3/8 in joint (Utility Size Brick product page, body copy — the sentence giving the dimensions and the units per square foot.) — Acme Brick Company, Manufacturer or grower specification. The page prints no publication or revision date. Current as of the retrieved date. Retrieved September 13, 2026.
  7. Brick one 80 lb bag of a pre-blended mortar mix will lay, and the brick the maker counts (Product data sheet for Mason Mix No. 1136, page 1, left column, section heading "YIELD"; and, for the brick that figure counts, "Table 1: Mortar Mix Usage Chart" in the same maker's Mortar Mix data sheet.) — The Quikrete Companies, LLC, Manufacturer or grower specification. Effective from November 2020. The Mason Mix sheet's page-2 footer prints "Revised November 2020" and no day, above a "© 2020 Quikrete International, Inc." line and the maker's own instruction to refer to quikrete.com for the most current technical data. The usage-chart sheet cited with it prints no revision date at all, so this date is the Mason Mix sheet's. An earlier version of this file said no revision date had been read off the sheet, which was a research miss rather than a property of the document. Retrieved September 14, 2026.
  8. Brick one 80 lb bag lays, by brick designation — a second maker's yield table (Yield table, single page, second band, headed "MORTAR MIX - BRICK TYPE N", column group "PER 80 LB. BAG".) — TCC Materials, Manufacturer or grower specification. The table prints no revision date on its face, so none is claimed here. The edition cited is the one the publisher itself serves: its product-literature index lists exactly one yield table, titled "TCC Materials Yield Table", and that link is the file named for 2025; the PDF's own creation metadata reads 2025-06-24. An upload named for 2020 still resolves at its old path but is reached from no live page on the publisher's site, and it carries a tagline the publisher has retired. The brick band is identical in the two editions. An earlier version of this file cited the 2020 upload and told readers that the file the publisher serves is named for 2020, which was false on the day it was written. Retrieved October 11, 2026.
  9. A manufacturer stating that the published quantities are for one wythe (Extruded Brick Product Profile, printed page 7 (last page), section heading "Estimating:" — a three-column band across the top of the page. The single-wythe and no-waste sentences are in the left and center columns; the joint sentence and the reference are in the right column.) — Glen-Gery, Manufacturer or grower specification. Effective from January 2019. The header of every page reads "Revised 1/2019" — a month and a year, no day. Retrieved September 13, 2026.
  10. What the ordinary residential brick wall actually is (Technical Note 28, page 2, first paragraph of the section beside Figure 1 "Brick Veneer/Wood Stud Wall".) — Brick Industry Association, Trade association publication. Effective from 2012. The title block carries a 2012 copyright; no month or day is printed. Retrieved September 13, 2026.

This list, with a link to each document: concretetally.com/brick-calculator/#sources-heading

Every table ConcreteTally reads, with its dates: concretetally.com/sources

Sizes and names vary between makers — order by the specified dimensions and check them with your supplier.

Where these figures come from

Every table ConcreteTally reads, with its dates: all sources.