Estimate bricks, mortar and waste allowance for a wall from its size, brick size and mortar joint.
How to use this tool
Length times height in feet. For a wall with a door or window, work out the full wall first, then subtract the opening's area and run the numbers on the remainder.
Defaults are a standard US modular brick (7.5 × 2.25 inches) with a 3/8-inch joint. Change them if your bricks differ.
The headline figure includes your waste allowance. The mortar volume is the wall volume minus the bricks' own volume — an estimate, not a mix recipe.
Cut bricks, breakages and mistakes are normal: 10% is the usual allowance, 15% for walls with many cuts or openings.
Formula & worked example
A 10 ft × 8 ft wall (80 sq ft) with 7.5 × 2.25-inch bricks and 3/8-inch joints: each brick with its joint covers 7.875 × 2.625 = 20.67 sq in, so 144 ÷ 20.67 = 6.97 bricks per sq ft, 558 bricks exact, and 614 with a 10% waste allowance.
Limitations — read this before you rely on it
This estimates a single-wythe (one-brick-thick) wall face: double-wythe walls need roughly double the bricks, and openings, piers, corners and soldier courses all change the count, so treat the result as an ordering estimate and confirm with your bricklayer for large jobs. Mortar volume is approximate — joint fullness, brick absorption and mix proportions vary.
Frequently asked questions
About 7 for a standard brick with a 3/8-inch joint — the exact figure depends on brick size and joint thickness, which is why the calculator asks for both.
Bricks break, get cut for corners and openings, and a few are always unusable. Ordering exactly the calculated count guarantees running short.
One vertical layer of bricks. A single-wythe wall is one brick thick; a double-wythe wall has two layers and needs about twice the bricks.
Yes — calculate the wall area minus the openings' area, or run the calculator on each wall section separately and add the results.
Convert the cubic-feet figure using your mortar mix's yield (printed on the bag, typically around 0.4–0.5 cu ft per 60 lb bag of pre-mixed mortar) and round up.