Key skills resource sheet

Calculating Quantities of Brick

This material was developed by the KSSP and HMP Liverpool as part of their Key Skills
Support Programme development project.

If we know how to obtain dimensions / sizes to calculate the area (m2) of a wall (rectangle)
- we need to be able to convert the ‘m and the m2’ into a quantity of bricks.

The size of a standard brick is shown below, as you can see the height of the brick is
65mm.

65mm

102.5mm

215mm

So, each brick has a height of 65mm. Then when you bed the brick onto mortar, the
height of the brick is raised to 75mm. Go and ask to see a GAUGE STAFF and have it
explained.

That means that the bed joint is 10mm.

Brick 65mm
Brick & Bed = 75mm
Bed joint 10mm

4 course of bricks (4 x 65mm) + 4 bed joints (10mm) = 300mm

Bricks

300mm

Beds

©Crown Copyright 2000 Produced with assistance from the DfEE Key Skills Support Programme
 I’ve got it – I can follow that – what next?

Well, try to solve the following. How many course of bricks would there be in the wall
below?

900mm

Answer =

Okay – let’s move on a little bit further. Let’s have a look at how many bricks are
required to build a wall.
What things do I need to remember?
Or, what things do I need to know?

Well if you have got this far – you are doing exceptionally well!
I’ll show you now what you need to know – and how to work it all out

Let’s start with the wall thickness

What do you mean THICKNESS?

It’s just a term used by Bricklayers – for example you may be building a wall 1 brick
thick or a ½ brick thick. Let me show you.

©Crown Copyright 2000 Produced with assistance from the DfEE Key Skills Support Programme
 ½ brick thick 1 brick thick 1½ brick thick

Got the idea? Let me explain it.

To explain it further – forget about the dimensions / sizes of a brick for a moment. Look at
the diagram below

½ brick thick

1 brick thick
A ½ brick thick wall, with an area of 1m2 - has 60 bricks

A 1 brick thick wall (twice as thick) with an area of 1m2 - has 120 bricks

A 1½ brick thick wall with an area of 1m2 - has 180 bricks

How many would a 2 brick thick wall have? Answer =

Here’s an example, to help explain it further.

2000mm

10000mm 1 Brick thick

Front elevation End elevation

Step 1 Convert MILLIMETRES into METRES

Length = 10000mm ÷ 1000 = 10m

Height = 2000mm ÷ 1000 = 2m

©Crown Copyright 2000 Produced with assistance from the DfEE Key Skills Support Programme
 Step 2

Find the area of the wall.

USING THE FORMULA - Length x Height = Area

So, 10.000m x 2.000m = 20m2

Step 3

Walling thickness = 1 Brick thick

How many bricks are there in 1m2 - for a 1 brick thick wall? = 120

Step 4

Multiply the area of the wall by the amount of bricks in 1m2

Area of wall = 20m2

Bricks per/m2 = 120 bricks

20m2 x 120 bricks = 2,400 bricks needed.

Now, it’s your turn. Calculate the bricks required for the wall. Remember the FOUR
steps.

3500mm

12400mm 1½ brick
Answer Step 1 = Answer Step 2 =

Answer Step 3 = Answer Step 4 =

©Crown Copyright 2000 Produced with assistance from the DfEE Key Skills Support Programme
©Crown Copyright 2000 Produced with assistance from the DfEE Key Skills Support Programme