ProjectEstimate

Brick wall calculator

Count bricks or blocks from the co-ordinating size, deduct openings, and size the mortar, sand, cement and wall ties for single skin, solid and cavity walls.

Your project

Region
Units

Quick start

Wall dimensions

Construction

With 10 mm joints this gives the familiar 60 bricks per square metre per skin.

One unit thick. Suitable for low garden walls and non-loadbearing screens only.

10 mm is the UK standard joint.

5% for straightforward runs; 10% where there are many cuts, piers or returns.

Openings

Doors, windows, gates and any other gap in the wall.

Openings

Enter the size of each opening in metres. Their area is deducted from the wall.

No openings. Add one for each door, window or gate — their area is deducted from the wall.

Extras

Estimate updated. 448 bricks of UK standard brick (215 × 102.5 × 65 mm) required.

Shopping list

4 lines
  • 448bricksUK standard brick (215 × 102.5 × 65 mm)Single skin (half brick) — about 59.3 per m² per skin (5.51 per ft²)
  • 1bulk bagsBuilding sandFor 0.239 m³ of 1:5 mortar
  • 425 kg bagsCement1:5 mix — 320 kg per m³ of mortar
  • 7mDamp-proof course102.5 mm wide, one course per skin, plus 10% for laps

Estimate results

What you measured

Gross wall area
7.20 m²
Net wall area
7.20 m²
Units per m² per skin
59.26
Delivery
about 1 pack of 500

What to buy

5% waste included
Materials required, with the quantity to purchase, how it was rounded, and the estimated weight and cost of each line.
MaterialBuyWeight

UK standard brick (215 × 102.5 × 65 mm)

Single skin (half brick) — about 59.3 per m² per skin (5.51 per ft²)

Rounding: The calculation requires 426.67 bricks. Adding 5% waste gives 448. Rounded up to 448 bricks.

Main material

448bricks1,120 kg

Building sand

For 0.239 m³ of 1:5 mortar

Rounding: The calculation requires 0.45 bulk bags. Adding 5% waste gives 0.47. Rounded up to 1 bulk bags.

Bedding and mortar

1bulk bags850 kg

Cement

1:5 mix — 320 kg per m³ of mortar

Rounding: The calculation requires 3.05 25 kg bags. Adding 5% waste gives 3.21. Rounded up to 4 25 kg bags.

Bedding and mortar

425 kg bags100 kg

Damp-proof course(optional)

102.5 mm wide, one course per skin, plus 10% for laps

Rounding: The calculation requires 6.6 m. No waste allowance was added. Rounded up to 7 m.

Consumables

7m—
Assumptions behind each line

UK standard brick (215 × 102.5 × 65 mm)

  • Co-ordinating size 225 × 75 mm (unit plus one 10 mm joint in each direction).
  • Single skin (half brick): 1 skin.
  • Unit weight taken as 2.5 kg.
  • With 10 mm joints this gives the familiar 60 bricks per square metre per skin.

Building sand

  • 1.6 tonnes of sand per cubic metre of mortar, allowing for bulking.
  • Soft building sand, not sharp sand.

Cement

  • 1:5 (general purpose — the usual choice).
  • Add plasticiser or lime for workability. Do not use washing-up liquid.

Damp-proof course

  • One course of DPC per skin at the base of the wall, lapped 100 mm at joints.
  • DPC must sit at least 150 mm above finished ground level.

Wall elevation

Wall elevationElevation of a 6.00 m by 1.20 m single skin (half brick) in UK standard brick (215 × 102.5 × 65 mm), showing 16 courses.Single skin (half brick) — cut units shown in a darker tone
Stretcher bond elevation. Opening positions are indicative and do not affect the quantities.

How this was calculated

  1. Gross wall area

    6.00 m × 1.20 m

    = 7.20 m² (77.50 ft²)

  2. Co-ordinating size

    (215 mm + 10 mm) × (65 mm + 10 mm)

    = 59.26 units per m² per skin (5.51 per ft²)

    • This is the standard UK figure of 60 bricks per square metre, specified as 60.

  3. Units required

    The calculation requires 426.67 bricks. Adding 5% waste gives 448. Rounded up to 448 bricks.

    = 448 bricks (about 1 pack of 500)

  4. Mortar volume

    7.20 m² (77.50 ft²) × 0.0331 m³/m² × 1 skin

    = 0.239 m³

    • Joints make up 17.2% of the wall face, bedded 102.5 mm wide (0.0176 m³/m²).
    • Filling the frog adds 0.0089 m³/m² — around 34% of the mortar, which is why frogs cannot be ignored.
    • A 1.25× site allowance covers over-filled perps, droppings and mixer residue.
    • That is about 0.56 m³ of mortar per 1,000 units — roughly 0.9 tonnes of sand.

  5. Mortar materials

    0.239 m³ × 1.6 t sand and 320 kg cement per m³

    = 0.38 t sand + 76 kg cement

  6. Masonry weight

    448 × 2.5 kg

    = 1.12 tonnes (2,469 lb)

    • Approximately 1 pack of 500 to deliver and offload.

Weight and delivery

Approximate weight
2.07 tonnes

Likely delivery
tipper or grab lorry

  • 2.07 tonnes needs a tipper or grab lorry. Confirm access width, overhead clearance and where the driver can tip.
  • Check that the delivery route can take the weight — block paving, drainage covers and soft verges are easily damaged.

Safety and compliance

Material planning only

This estimate is for material planning only. Structural dimensions, foundations and compliance requirements should be checked by a qualified professional.

Structural walls need proper design

Foundations, wall thickness, pier spacing, lateral restraint, lintels over openings and movement joints are all design decisions. A loadbearing wall, a retaining wall or any wall over about 1 m high needs input from a qualified professional.

Check whether approval is required

Boundary walls above about 1 m next to a highway, and any wall forming part of a building, are normally controlled. Confirm the requirements with your local authority Building Control team before you start.

Data behind this estimate

Material assumptions used, with their value, range, source and review date.
AssumptionValueSource

UK standard brick co-ordinating size

215 × 102.5 × 65 mm brick plus 10 mm joints gives a 225 × 75 mm face module.

60 bricks/m² per half-brick skinrange 59–61Brick Development AssociationReviewed 2026-07-01

Mortar volume per m² of half-brick UK brickwork

Bed and perp joints alone are 0.0176 m³/m². Filling the frog adds a further 0.0089 m³/m², and a 1.25× site allowance covers over-filling, droppings and mixer residue.

0.033 m³/m²range 0.025–0.04Project EstimateReviewed 2026-07-01

Sand required per m³ of 1:5 mortar

Allows for bulking; damp sand delivered by weight is the practical ordering unit.

1.6 tonnes/m³range 1.5–1.7British Standards InstitutionReviewed 2026-07-01

Building sand / mason sand

Soft sand used for bricklaying mortar.

1,500 kg/m³range 1,400–1,600Mineral Products AssociationReviewed 2026-07-01

Default waste allowance

Covers cutting, breakage, setting-out error and the odd unusable unit.

10 %range 5–15Project EstimateReviewed 2026-07-01

Cost

Enter the prices your supplier quoted. This site does not hold or estimate supplier prices, so totals appear only once you fill these in.

UK standard-rate VAT is 20%. Builders' merchant prices are often quoted excluding VAT.

No prices entered yet. Everything else in this estimate — quantities, weight, delivery and the shopping list — works without them.

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How this calculator works

Every figure below is derived rather than looked up, so you can check it against your own numbers. Nothing is hidden behind a black box.

Co-ordinating size

A brick does not occupy its own size in a wall — it occupies its work size plus one joint in each direction. A UK brick is 215 × 65 mm, but with 10 mm joints it occupies 225 × 75 mm.

Dividing one square metre by that module gives 59.26 bricks, which the industry specifies as 60 per square metre per half-brick skin. The engine derives the figure rather than hard-coding it, so a non-standard joint or an unusual block still calculates correctly.

units per m² = 1 ÷ ((unit length + joint) × (unit height + joint))

Openings

Each opening's area is multiplied by how many of them there are and deducted from the gross wall area. Openings still need lintels sized for the load above, which are a design item and are not estimated here.

net area = (length × height) − Σ(opening width × height × count)

Mortar

Mortar volume is derived from geometry: the proportion of the wall face taken up by joints, multiplied by the skin thickness, with a 1.2× practical allowance for frogs, perp waste and mixing losses.

For standard UK brickwork that comes out at about 0.021 m³ per square metre per skin — close to the traditional rule of one cubic metre of mortar per thousand bricks.

mortar = net area × joint fraction × skin thickness × 1.2 × skins

Sand and cement

Mortar volume is converted to materials using 1.6 tonnes of sand per cubic metre, plus cement according to the mix: 480 kg/m³ for 1:3, 400 for 1:4, 320 for 1:5 and 270 for 1:6.

Wall ties

Cavity walls are estimated at 2.5 ties per square metre, from the standard 900 mm horizontal by 450 mm vertical spacing. Additional ties are required at openings and movement joints.

Common questions

How many bricks do I need per square metre?
Sixty for a single-skin (half brick) wall in standard UK bricks with 10 mm joints, and 120 for a one-brick solid or cavity wall. In the US, modular brick works out at 6.86 per square foot per wythe.
How much mortar do I need for 1,000 bricks?
About one cubic metre, which needs roughly 1.6 tonnes of building sand and 320 kg of cement at a 1:5 mix. That is around 13 bags of 25 kg cement.
What is the standard brick size?
In the UK, 215 × 102.5 × 65 mm, giving a 225 × 75 mm co-ordinating size with 10 mm joints. In the US, modular brick is 7⅝ × 3⅝ × 2¼ in, giving an 8 × 2⅔ in module with ⅜ in joints.