How to calculate how many bricks you need in 4 steps

How Many Bricks Do I Need for a Wall?

Unless you work with bricks on a daily basis, it can be hard to calculate how many you need for a DIY project. Although it might seem easier to buy bricks and worry about selling excess bricks later, you can save money and hassle by getting the correct amount at the beginning.

If you do need to sell excess bricks (or other large, heavy materials) check out BrickHunter.com.

Even if maths isn’t your strongest subject, here is how you can calculate your brick quantities in four easy steps:

1. Measure

Fetch a tape measure and measure the height and length of your project.

We’ll use a freestanding wall as an example so you can see how the calculation method works. Let’s pretend we’re building a wall 50 meters in length and 1.8 meters high, keep a note of these measurements.

2. Calculate the area of the wall’s surface

To calculate the surface area of this free standing wall we need to multiply the length of the wall by the height it will be to give us the surface area:

length x height = surface area

e.g. 50 meters x 1.5 meters = 90 meters squared

3. Calculate how many bricks you need

Usually per every square meter of wall, you will need approximately 60 bricks. So you need to multiply the surface area you h ave just calculated by 60. The calculation you will need to use is:

surface area x 60 = how many bricks you need

e.g. So using our example of the free standing wall:

90 meters squared x 60 = 5400 bricks

In our example we are only building a wall which is one brick thick. If you want to make your walls two bricks thick then you will have to multiply the answer above by the number of layers of bricks.

E.g. if you wanted a wall three bricks thick then you would 3 x 60 = 180. Then you would do the calculation from step 3 as surface area x 180 = how many bricks you need.

4. Get extra for waste

As you build you may accidentally damage your bricks so it’s worthwhile buying extra just in case. We suggest you add an additional 5% to your order.

Five per cent of 5400 = 270

So, altogether you would need 5670 bricks to build a wall 50m (length) x 1.5m (height) which is one brick thick.

BrickHunter also have advice on protecting your bricks from damage while you are transporting and storing them.

The calculations

(length x height) = surface area x 60 = amount of bricks + 5% of amount of bricks = total amount of bricks needed for project

It’s so easy to find out how many bricks you need for your next DIY project. Save money by buying the exact amount you need, and save yourself the hassle later trying to get rid of them

For advice on how to build a brick wall check out the Project on DIY Doctor.