How many bricks do I need?
Build a wall — enter the size, pick a single- or double-skin brick wall or blockwork, and get the number of bricks or blocks to buy with wastage, plus a mortar estimate in cement and sand. Buy a little over from one batch so the colour matches. Free, no sign-up.
A guide, not a guarantee. We use the standard 60 bricks per m² for a single-skin (half-brick) wall, 120 for a double-skin (one-brick) wall, and 10 blocks per m² — all assuming a 10 mm mortar joint. Mortar is an estimate at roughly a 1:5 cement-to-sand mix; the real amount depends on your joint thickness and how much you drop, so buy a little over. Wall ties, a damp-proof course, lintels, foundations and any reinforcement are extra. Always work to a structural design for anything load-bearing or over about 1 m freestanding. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Area, units per m², and the mortar.
Start with the wall area. Length times height gives the area; add a return or pier with the extra-area box, and take off any doorways or windows you're not building across.
The standard counts. With a 10 mm mortar joint, a single-skin (half-brick) wall takes about 60 bricks per square metre, a double-skin (one-brick) wall about 120, and standard 440 × 215 mm blocks about 10 per square metre. We multiply by the area and add your wastage for breakages and cuts.
Don't skimp on the mortar. We estimate the mortar at roughly a 1:5 cement-to-sand mix and give you the cement bags and sand. It's only a guide — the real amount depends on your joint thickness and how much you drop, so round up.
Set out before you mix. Lay the first course out dry to check the bond and the spacing against your openings, so you cut as few bricks as possible and the perpends line up.
What this leaves out. Foundations, a damp-proof course, wall ties between skins, lintels over openings, any reinforcement or piers, and the structural design itself. Anything load-bearing, retaining, or more than about a metre freestanding needs to be designed properly — this tool is for ordering materials, not engineering the wall.
Keep every building job in one place.
Stead remembers your home's measurements, the materials you chose and when each job was done — so the next project starts with the numbers already to hand.