Brick calculator

1. Wall area
   A = length × height
   20' 0" × 8' 0" = 160.00 SF
2. Course height
   3 courses rise 8" → 2.667" per course
   8" ÷ 3 = 2-11/16"
3. Brick per SF (running bond)
   144 ÷ (course × (length + joint))
   144 in² ÷ ( 2-11/16" × ( 7-5/8" + 3/8" )) = 6.750
4. Brick
   net area × per SF, rounded up
   160.00 SF × 6.750 = 1,080
5. Mortar
   net area ÷ 100 SF × BIA ft³ per 100 SF
   160.00 SF ÷ 100 SF × 5.5 ft³ = 8.80 ft³
6. Mortar bags (80 lb)
   mortar ÷ (modular brick per bag × 8.1 ft³ ÷ 1000), rounded up
   8.80 ft³ ÷ 0.32 ft³ = 28
7. Wall per tie
   across × up
   1' 4" × 2' 0" = 2.67 SF
8. Ties over the wall
   net area ÷ wall per tie, rounded up
   160.00 SF ÷ 2.67 SF = 60
9. Ties
   over the wall + around openings
   60 + 0 = 60
10. Continuous wire
    net area ÷ tie spacing up (one wire in each row of ties)
    160.00 SF ÷ 2' 0" = 80' 0"
11. Wire pieces
    ⌈wire ÷ (piece − lap)⌉
    80' 0" ÷ ( 10' 0" − 6" ) = 9

Where the numbers come from

• Brick sizes and coursing: Modular 3⅝ × 2¼ × 7⅝ (3 courses = 8") · Norman 3⅝ × 2¼ × 11⅝ · Standard 3⅝ × 2¼ × 8 · Queen 2¾ × 2¾ × 7⅝ · King 2¾ × 2⅝ × 9⅝ …BIA Technical Note 10, Tables 1 and 2, with ⅜" joints. Sizes vary a little by manufacturer — pick Custom and type your brick if it differs.Source
• Bricks per square foot: 144 ÷ (course height × (brick length + joint))Worked out from the brick size, not read from a table. It matches BIA Table 4 exactly for every modular brick and for standard, engineer standard and closure standard. For queen and king BIA uses the largest sizes in its range (queen 8" long, king 2¾ × 9¾), giving 550 and 455 per 100 SF; the sizes shown here are the smaller ends of the range, giving 576 and 480. Pick Custom to use other sizes. BIA recommends adding at least 5% for breakage and waste — enter it under Adjust.Source
• Extra brick for bond patterns: English +½ · Flemish +⅓ · common (headers every 6th course) +⅙ · garden wall +⅕ / +⅐ …Worked out from the pattern: a header takes up (depth + joint) of the course instead of (length + joint). For modular brick that is exactly half, so a header course takes twice the brick and the results equal BIA Table 6. English and Dutch bond centre headers on the stretchers, so the mason fits a whole number per stretcher (2 for standard brick → +50%, as BIA). Full headers (solid two-wythe wall) count a whole brick each, as BIA does; veneer uses snap headers cut from one brick (2 from modular, 3 from Norman), which adds little. Counts are for the face brick. Pattern descriptions: BIA Technical Note 30.Source
• Mortar: BIA Table 4, ⅜" joints, ft³ per 100 SF: modular 5.5 · engineer modular 4.8 · closure modular 4.1 · Roman 6.4 · Norman 5.1 · engineer Norman 4.4 · utility 3.7 · queen 6.7 · king 6.5 · standard 9.5 · engineer standard 8.2 · closure standard 7.0BIA Technical Note 10, Table 4 (quantity estimates for brick masonry), no waste: full head and bed joints, running or stack bond. The page follows BIA, as the industry does. Other bonds change it by the pattern's own joint share (headers have more joint on the face). For non-modular brick BIA prints more mortar than the bed and head joints alone hold; the note does not say why. Custom brick: the joint volume itself, (course height × (length + joint) − brick face) × brick depth. BIA suggests adding 15–25% mortar waste (separate setting).Source
• Bond patterns: Running, one-third running, stack, vertical stack, common (American), English, English cross (Dutch), Flemish, garden wall, header, herringbone, basket weaveBIA Technical Note 30, Bonds and Patterns in Brickwork, and Glen-Gery "Brick Bond Patterns" (https://www.glengery.com/sites/default/files/2022-02/Bond%20patterns%20resource.pdf). Vertical stack and herringbone are counted by face area: each brick takes (length + joint) × (height + joint). Basket weave squares are one brick long holding n brick, so it is n ÷ (length + joint)²; it is only offered for brick that fill the square (modular, closure modular, Roman, utility). Herringbone and basket weave need extra cuts at the edges — add waste.Source
• Veneer anchors (TMS 402-22): 1 tie per 2.67 SF, 24" apart at most · ties within 12" of openingsBIA Technical Note 3C (2022), Table 2 — TMS 402-22 prescriptive anchored veneer. 16" across × 24" up = 384 in² = 2.67 SF (a tie on every stud at 16", every 9th modular course). TMS 402-16 allowed 2.67 SF (adjustable, corrugated and W1.7 wire ties) or 3.5 SF (others), 32" across × 25" up, 75% of that in high seismic (TN 3C Table 12). Ties are counted wall area ÷ area per tie, plus ties around each opening over 16" at the largest spacing (a little more than the field grid needs, never less). Use your drawings and the adopted code.Source
• Continuous wire and seismic clips: 9 ga wire in each row of ties, 10 ft pieces, 6" laps · one seismic clip per tieHohmann & Barnard continuous wire: 9 ga (or 3/16"), 10 ft standard length. W1.7 = 0.017 in² ≈ 0.147" (9 ga = 0.148"). Laps: NCMA TEK 12-6 says joint wire is typically spliced 6" minimum. Wire length = wall area ÷ the vertical tie spacing (one wire per row of ties); pieces = ⌈wire ÷ (10 ft − 6")⌉. Seismic clips snap the tie and the wire together, one per tie (H&B Seismiclip submittal: https://media.h-b.com/SUBMITTAL-SIS-SEISMICLIP.pdf). The 2018 IBC asked for this wire, W1.7 at 18" or closer, in seismic veneer; check the code your job is under.Source
• Brick per 80 lb bag: SPEC MIX Masonry Cement & Sand: 39–41 modular brick per 80 lb bag (typical waste included) → 39 × 8.1 ÷ 1000 = 0.316 ft³ of joint per bagSPEC MIX data sheet, estimated yields: modular 39–41, queen 33–35, king 26–28, utility 23–25 per 80 lb bag; "yields include typical waste". The page takes modular's low end, 39, and BIA's 8.1 ft³ of mortar per 1000 modular brick, so one bag fills 0.316 ft³ of joint; every brick is then bags = BIA mortar ÷ 0.316. QUIKRETE Mason Mix says up to 37 standard brick (https://www.quikrete.com/PDFs/DATA_SHEET-Mason%20Mix%201136.pdf). Change it to the number on your bag.Source
• Cubic feet: 1 CY = 27 ft³Exact by definition: 1 ft = 0.3048 m.