Brick Calculator

How many bricks, how much mortar, and what it costs — for any brick wall, pillar, or arch. Ten brick types from US, UK & AU manufacturer specs, bond patterns, and ASTM C270 mortar.

100% client-side — no data leaves your device

Scope: this tool estimates clay brick masonry (walls, pillars, arches). Building with concrete blocks? Use our block mortar calculator. Sizing a decorative brick ring for a fire pit? See the fire pit size calculator.

1 · Units & brick

Imperial (ft / in) Metric (m / mm)

Brick type

Mortar joint

Bond pattern

Waste % (blank = bond default)

Mortar type (ASTM C270)

2 · What are you building?

Wall length (ft)

Wall height (ft)

Wythes (wall thickness)

Openings (ft²)

Net face area = length × height − openings. Enter total area of all doors, windows, and other openings.

3 · Cost (optional)

Price region

Price per brick

Price per 80-lb mortar bag

Defaults are typical 2026 retail — verify locally. Cost = order quantities (rounded up) × your prices.

What this brick calculator answers

The questions DIYers and masons type most often — how many bricks do i need for a wall, how many bricks for a wall of a given size, how many bricks per square meter a UK or AU wall needs, how much mortar for brick wall jobs, and how many bricks in a pillar — are all covered above. It works as a brick wall calculator (single or double wythe, openings subtracted), a modular brick calculator built on the exact 7-5/8 × 3-5/8 × 2-1/4 in unit, a brick pillar calculator for piers and columns, a brick courses calculator for any wall height, and a brick arch calculator for segmental, semicircular, and flat gauged arches. The reference table doubles as a bricks per square foot calculator for ten brick types, and the results include a brick mortar calculator that converts premix bags into ASTM C270 site-mix materials.

Brick sizes — US, UK & AU (manufacturer specs)

Dims = length × bed depth × height. Coverage at 3/8-in (US) or 10-mm (UK/AU) joints, computed from the dimensions — matches published manufacturer tables.

Brick	Unit size	/ft²	/m²	courses/ft	courses/m	Source
Modular (US)	7 5/8 × 3 5/8 × 2 1/4 in	6.86	73.12	4.57	14.89	Belden Brick
Standard (US)	8.000 × 3 5/8 × 2 1/4 in	6.55	69.85	4.57	14.89	Belden Brick
Jumbo Modular (US)	7 5/8 × 3 5/8 × 2 3/4 in	5.76	61.49	3.84	12.52	Belden Brick
Queen (US)	7 5/8 × 3.000 × 2 3/4 in	5.76	61.49	3.84	12.52	Glen-Gery / Champion
Queen XL — long (US)	9 5/8 × 3 1/8 × 2 3/4 in	4.61	49.21	3.84	12.52	Belden Brick
King (US)	9 5/8 × 3.000 × 2 3/4 in	4.61	49.21	3.84	12.52	Champion Brick
Roman (US)	11 5/8 × 3 5/8 × 1 5/8 in	6.00	63.89	6.00	19.50	Belden Brick
Norman (US)	11 5/8 × 3 5/8 × 2 1/4 in	4.57	48.78	4.57	14.89	Belden Brick
Standard (UK)	215 × 102.5 × 65 mm	5.55	59.26	4.09	13.33	BDA / BS 3921
Standard (AU)	230 × 110 × 76 mm	4.54	48.45	3.56	11.63	PGH Bricks

Mortar types — ASTM C270

Type	Mix (cement:lime:sand)	Min. strength	Use
Type N	1:1:6	750 psi	general above-grade
Type S	1:0.5:4.5	1800 psi	structural / below-grade
Type M	1:0.25:3	2500 psi	heavy loads
Type O	1:2:9	350 psi	interior / non-load

How the estimate works

Brick count = net face area × bricks per ft² (or m²), from the brick's face dimensions plus one mortar joint — single wythe, doubled for double wythe.
Mortar is anchored to the QUIKRETE Mortar Mix data sheet (No. 1102): one 80-lb bag lays up to 37 standard bricks at 3/8-in joints, scaled by your brick's joint volume versus a modular reference.
Site-mix converts bag count to dry materials (1.33 bulking) split by ASTM C270 volume ratios: 94-lb cement ≈ 1 ft³/bag, 50-lb lime ≈ 1.25 ft³/bag.
Waste defaults come from the bond pattern (running 5%, English 7%, Flemish 10%, stack 5%) — Flemish and English need more cuts.
Order quantities are always rounded up. Confirm with your supplier on large jobs.

Frequently asked questions

How many bricks do I need for a wall?

Multiply the wall's net face area by the bricks-per-square-foot for your brick size. A 10 ft × 8 ft wall (80 ft²) in US modular brick at 3/8-inch joints needs 80 × 6.86 = 549 bricks; with 5% cutting waste, order 576. Subtract doors and windows first — every opening creates cut bricks, so use 10% waste on walls with several openings.

How many bricks per square foot?

It depends on the brick's face size plus one mortar joint. US modular (7-5/8 × 2-1/4 in face) = 6.86 per ft²; US standard (8 × 2-1/4 in) = 6.55; jumbo modular = 5.76; queen = 5.76; king = 4.61; Roman = 6.00; Norman = 4.57 — all at 3/8-inch joints. These match manufacturer tables (Belden Brick) to within rounding. The calculator above shows the exact figure for 10 brick types.

How many bricks per square meter (UK and Australia)?

At a 10 mm joint: a UK standard brick (215 × 65 mm face) = 59.3 per m² (manufacturers quote 60); an Australian standard brick (230 × 76 mm face) = 48.5 per m². So a 10 m² single-skin UK wall needs 593 bricks, or 623 with 5% waste. Switch the calculator to metric to enter meters directly.

How much mortar do I need for a brick wall?

Use the manufacturer's coverage anchor: one 80-lb bag of premixed mortar (e.g. QUIKRETE Mortar Mix, product data sheet No. 1102) lays up to 37 standard bricks at 3/8-inch joints. The 10 × 8 ft modular example (549 bricks) needs 549 / 37 ≈ 15 eighty-pound bags, 16 with 5% waste. Larger bricks and thinner joints use less per brick; the calculator scales the anchor by your brick's joint volume automatically.

How do I calculate brick courses for a wall height?

Divide the wall height by one course height (brick height + joint). A US modular brick is 2-1/4 in tall, so a course is 2-5/8 in at 3/8-inch joints — an 8 ft wall is 96 / 2.625 = 36.6, i.e. 37 courses. In the UK, four courses always equal 300 mm at 10 mm joints (65 + 10 = 75 mm per course). The calculator reports exact fractional courses so you can plan partial courses at the top.

What is a modular brick size?

US modular brick is the most common North American size: 7-5/8 in long × 3-5/8 in wide × 2-1/4 in high (194 × 92 × 57 mm), about 4.2 lb each (Belden Brick). With 3/8-inch joints it lays out to an 8-inch module, which is why it is called modular — openings and wall lengths in multiples of 8 inches need almost no cut bricks.

Queen vs king brick size — what is the difference?

Both are wider-faced US bricks for faster laying. A queen brick is 7-5/8 in long × 3 in wide × 2-3/4 in high (5.76 per ft²; a longer 9-5/8 in queen variant exists at 4.61 per ft²). A king brick is 9-5/8 in long × 3 in wide × 2-3/4 in high (about 4.61–4.75 per ft²). King covers roughly 49% more face per brick than modular, so it needs about one-third fewer units but each brick is heavier.

How many bricks do I need for a brick pillar or column?

Count bricks per course from the pier footprint, then multiply by courses. A 16 × 16 in pier, 4 ft tall, in modular brick: 16/(2-5/8) = 18.3 courses; 10 bricks per course (16×16 in footprint ÷ brick bed area) = 183 bricks, 192 with 5% waste, plus about 6 eighty-pound bags of mortar. The pillar mode above does this for any footprint and height.

How many bricks are in a brick arch?

Count one voussoir (arch brick) per course-height along the arc, plus a ring for each concentric ring. A 48-inch segmental arch in modular brick: the arc is 49.98 in long, so 49.98 / 2.625 = 19.04 → 20 voussoirs per ring, plus 2 skewback bricks = 22 (order 24 with 7% waste). Arch mortar runs deeper than wall joints, so the calculator adds a 25% mortar allowance for arches.

What mortar type should I use — N, S, M, or O?

Per ASTM C270: Type N (1:1:6 cement:lime:sand, 750 psi) is the general-purpose choice for above-grade walls; Type S (1:½:4½, 1800 psi) for structural, below-grade, and high-wind work; Type M (1:¼:3, 2500 psi) for the heaviest loads; Type O (1:2:9, 350 psi) for interior non-load-bearing work only. Mortar type does not change coverage — it only changes the site-mix material split the calculator reports.

How much cement, lime, and sand do I need to site-mix mortar?

For Type N (1:1:6) the calculator converts your premix-bag count to dry materials with a 1.33 bulking factor. Example: 15 eighty-pound bags ≈ 10.5 ft³ wet mortar → about 1.7 × 94-lb bags of Portland cement, 1.4 × 50-lb bags of hydrated lime, and 10.5 ft³ (0.39 yd³) of sand. Assumptions: 0.7 ft³ wet yield per 80-lb premix bag; adjust if your bag states a different yield.

Is this the same as a concrete block calculator?

No — this tool is for clay brick masonry (walls, pillars, arches). If you are building with concrete masonry units (CMU/cinder block), use our block mortar calculator instead; block coverage and mortar rules are completely different. For a decorative brick ring around a fire pit (not a structural wall), see our fire pit size calculator.

Brick Calculator

1 · Units & brick

2 · What are you building?

3 · Cost (optional)

What this brick calculator answers

Brick sizes — US, UK & AU (manufacturer specs)

Mortar types — ASTM C270

How the estimate works

Frequently asked questions

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