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Calculation of Bricks & Blocks in a Wall

How to Calculate Bricks and Blocks in a Wall?

The bricks & blocks are the most used material in construction work. They are mostly used for pavement & wall construction. In order to do brickwork in your own house or on a construction site, one must need to know how to calculate the bricks & blocks required for its construction. An estimate of such calculation gives a brief idea of how much construction material is required before starting the construction.

 

Here in this articles, we are going to show you how to calculate bricks & blocks required in a wall.

Brick

It is a building material used in walls, pavement, and masonry construction. Brick is prepared using clay-bearing soil, sand, lime, or concrete materials. Bricks have different classes, types, materials, and sizes. There are two basic categories of bricks i.e. fire and non-fired bricks. In building construction, about 70 % of the construction has been done using brickwork, that’s why it is very important to learn brick calculation.

Basic Knowledge for Brickwork:  

  • The Cement-mortar ratio used for brickwork must be between 1:2 & 1:6. For half wall (meaning wall having 4.5 inches of thickness), the cement mortar ratio should be 1:4. While, for 9-inch brickwork, the cement mortar ratio should be 1:6.
  • Cement mortar thickness between sides of brick should be 10 mm or a half inch.
  • The structural note of brickwork should be read properly.
  • One cubic foot (1 ft3) contains 13.5 number of bricks

Calculating the Bricks Required in a Wall

The required data for calculating the bricks are:

  • Volume of wall
  • Details of opening in the wall
  • Volume of a standard brick

The procedure of calculating the bricks are:

Volume of Wall
  • Calculate the dimension of the wall. The dimension of the wall includes length L, height H, and thickness W.
  • Multiply all dimensions with each other L x H x W. You will get the volume of the wall.

Volume of wall V = L x H x W

Openings in the Wall

Examples of opening s in a wall are door & windows etc.

  • Calculate the volume L x W x H of the opening (door or window) in the wall
  • Subtract it from the volume of the wall

V = Volume of the wall – Volume of the opening

Number of Bricks

Since one cubic foot contains 13.5 bricks, we are going to multiply the volume of the wall with 13.5.

No’s of brick = V x 13.5

Example

Let’s take an example to calculate the number of bricks required for a wall for better understanding.

Let assume a wall with following parameters with an opening of L = 2ft, H = 2ft

Wall parameters; L = 10 ft,             H = 10 ft         W = 9 inch or 0.75 ft

Solution:

The volume of the wall is

Volume of wall = L x H x W

Putting the values

Volume of wall = 10 x 10 x 0.75

Volume of wall = 75 ft3

The volume of the opening

Volume of opening = 2 x 2 x0.75

Volume of opening = 3 ft3

Subtract the volume of opening from the wall

V= Volume of wall – Volume of opening

V= 75 – 3

V = 72 ft3

Now Multiple the volume with 13.5

No’s of brick = V x 13.5

Putting the values

No’s of brick = 72 x 13.5

No’s of brick = 972 bricks

One Brick Wall

The width of a one brick wall is 9 inches. The one brick wall requires 10.133 bricks per square foot.

Brick Calculation for One Brick Wall
  • Measure the length L of the wall
  • Measure the height H of the wall
  • Calculate the Area of the wall using H x L
  • Calculate the area of the opening & subtract it from the area of the wall.
  • Multiply the resultant area with number 133.

Taking an example;

A one brick wall with following parameter & openings

Wall parameter:                    H = 10 ft         L = 10 ft

Opening Parameter:          H = 2 f t           L = 2 ft

Solution:

Area of the wall

A = H x L

A = 10 x 10

A = 100 ft2

Area of opening

Area of opening = 2 x 2

Area of opening = 4 ft2

Subtract the area of opening from the wall

A = Area of the wall – Area of opening

A = 100 – 4

A = 96 ft2

Multiply Area with 10.133

No of bricks = A x 10.133

No of bricks = 96 x 10.133

No of bricks = 973 bricks

Half Brick Wall

Half Brick Wall or also known as a 4.5-inch brick wall because it has a width W of 4.5 inches. The Half brick wall requires 5.066 bricks per square foot.

Brick Calculation for Half Brick Wall
  • Measure the length L of the wall
  • Measure the height H of the wall
  • Calculate the Area of the wall using H x L
  • Calculate the area of the opening & subtract it from the area of the wall.
  • Multiply the resultant areal with number 066.

Taking an example

L = 10 ft         H = 10 ft

Area of the Half Brick Wall

A = 10 x 10

A = 100 ft2

Multiply it with 5.066

No of bricks = A x 5.066

No of bricks = 506.6 bricks

One and a Half Brick Wall

One & a half break wall has a width W of 13.5 inches. In such wall, the required numbers of bricks are 15.2 bricks per square foot.

Brick Calculation for One & Half Brick Wall
  • Measure the length L of the wall
  • Measure the Height H of the wall
  • Calculate the Area of the wall using H x L
  • Calculate the area of the opening & subtract it from the area of the wall.
  • Multiply the resultant area with number 2.

Taking an example

L = 10 ft         H = 10 ft

Calculate the area of the wall

A = 10 x 10

A = 100 ft2

Multiply it with 15.2

No of bricks = A x 15.2

No of bricks = 1520 bricks

Blocks

Blocks are the construction material used in walls, pavement, and masonry construction. It is made using concrete cement, sand, and aggregate. It has different sizes, types, and materials but typically the blocks that have dimensions of 18 x 8 x 4 inch3. Using such a block , the wall requires 3 blocks per cubic foot.

Nowadays it is frequently used in construction that’s why it is important to learn blocks calculation.

Blocks Calculation Required in a Wall

The data required for calculations of blocks being used in the wall are:

  • Volume V of wall
  • Volume of a standard block
  • Details of opening in the wall
Volume of the Wall

In order to calculate the volume of the wall;

  • Calculate the dimensions of the wall. The dimension of the wall includes length L, height H, and thickness or width W.
  • Multiply all dimensions with each other L x H x W.
  • The result is the volume of the wall being constructed using blocks.
Openings in the Wall

The openings in a wall refer to the door & windows etc.

  • Calculate the volume L x H x W of the opening (door or window) in the wall
  • Subtract it from the volume of the wall.

V = Volume of the wall – Volume of the opening

Number of Blocks Required

After finding the volume of the wall;

  • Since the standard block of dimension 18 x 8 x 4 inch3 takes 3 blocks per cubic foot.
  • Multiply the volume with the number 3.

Here is an example to calculate the number of blocks required for a wall:

Let assume a wall

Wall parameters:       L = 10 ft         H = 10 ft         W = 9 inch or 0.75 ft

Opening parameters: L = 2 ft         H = 2 ft

Solution:

Volume of the wall

Volume of the wall = L x H x W

Volume of the wall = 10 x 10 x 0.75

Volume of the wall = 75 ft3

Volume of the opening

Volume of the opening = L x H x W

Volume of the opening = 2 x 2x 0.75

Volume of the opening = 3 ft3

Subtract it from the volume of wall

V = Volume of the wall – Volume of the opening

V = 75 ft3– 3 ft3

V = 72 ft3

Now calculate the number of blocks

No’s of blocks = V x 3

No’s of brick = 72 x 3

No’s of brick = 216 blocks

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