How many bricks in a square metre?

For a standard 190 by 90 brick in a 230mm wall with 10mm joints, about 110 per square metre. The figure is shown on this page for whatever brick you enter.

Construction & Homematerials

Brick Calculator

Brick count from wall dimensions, with mortar and its cement and sand. Counting the mortar joint as part of each brick is what makes the number come out right.

Also called: brick quantity calculator, bricks per square metre.

Bricks needed

3,623

3,623 bricks for 30 m² of wall, including 5% wastage. Mortar comes to 1.59 m³, which is about 8.7 bags of cement and 1.81 m³ of sand at 1:6.

Wall area after openings (m²)

Wall volume (m³)

6.9

Mortar (m³)

1.59

Cement bags at 1:6

8.7

Sand (m³)

1.81

Bricks per square metre

120.8

How this is calculated

Method and background

How this is calculated

Each brick occupies its own size plus one mortar joint in each direction, so the effective brick volume is larger than the brick. Dividing the wall volume by that effective volume gives the count directly, and the difference between wall volume and brick volume is the mortar. Ignoring the joint overestimates the brick count by around ten percent, which on a large wall is a great many bricks.

bricks = wall volume / the volume of one brick including its mortar joint, plus wastage

l, h, w: Brick dimensions (mm)
j: Mortar joint (mm)

Worked examples

Each of these is asserted on every build. If a change to the engine ever moved one of these answers, the build would fail before the page could print it.

a ten by three metre full-brick wall

Wall length (m): 10
Wall height (m): 3
Wall thickness: Full brick (230mm)
Brick length (mm): 190
Brick height (mm): 90
Brick width (mm): 90
Mortar joint (mm): 10
Doors and windows to deduct (m²): 0
Wastage: 5%

Bricks needed3,623

arithmetic identity on area and volume

Open this example

openings reduce the area

Wall length (m): 10
Wall height (m): 3
Wall thickness: Full brick (230mm)
Brick length (mm): 190
Brick height (mm): 90
Brick width (mm): 90
Mortar joint (mm): 10
Doors and windows to deduct (m²): 6
Wastage: 5%

Bricks needed2,898

boundary

Open this example

Method and limits

What it assumes

A uniform joint thickness in every direction.
Mortar at 1:6 cement to sand, which is standard for brickwork.

What it deliberately does not model

Bonding patterns, pillars and corners change the count slightly.
Frogged bricks hold more mortar than the calculation allows.

Sources

Bureau of Indian Standards, IS 456 and IS 2212 (standards body)

Formula version 1.0.0 · definition 1.0.0 · India · Report a problem with this calculator

Frequently asked questions

How many bricks in a square metre?: For a standard 190 by 90 brick in a 230mm wall with 10mm joints, about 110 per square metre. The figure is shown on this page for whatever brick you enter.