How many bricks per square foot?
A wall of modular brick laid with ⅜ inch joints takes 6.75 bricks per square foot, according to the Brick Industry Association. That is 675 per 100 square feet, or 709 bricks with 5% for breakage.
How to work it out
- 12.5 ft × 8 ft = 100 sq ft
- × 675 per 100 sq ft (BIA, ⅜ in joints) + 5% = 709 bricks
Modular brick is the most common size in US construction, and 6.75 per square foot is the figure most estimates start from. Other sizes range from 3 per square foot (utility) to about 6.5.
Adjust for your project
More options: Extra
- Bricks per square foot
- 6.75 per sq ft
- Wall area (net of openings)
- 100 sq ft
- Mortar mix, 80 lb bags (incl. 15% extra)
- 21 bags
- Brick size (specified)
- 3-5/8 × 2-1/4 × 7-5/8 in
- Order all the brick for a wall from the same production run if you can — colour varies between batches. Mixing from several pallets as you lay also evens out shade.
100 sq ft of wall in each brick size (5% extra)
| Brick size | Bricks to buy | Bricks per square foot |
|---|---|---|
| Modular | 709 bricks | 6.75 per sq ft |
| Standard | 688 bricks | 6.55 per sq ft |
| Queen | 578 bricks | 5.5 per sq ft |
| King | 478 bricks | 4.55 per sq ft |
| Engineer modular | 592 bricks | 5.63 per sq ft |
| Closure modular | 473 bricks | 4.5 per sq ft |
| Roman | 630 bricks | 6 per sq ft |
| Norman | 473 bricks | 4.5 per sq ft |
| Utility | 315 bricks | 3 per sq ft |
Why 6.75
A modular brick with its joints occupies 8 in of length and 2⅔ in of height — three courses make 8 in. That is 21⅓ square inches per brick, and 144 ÷ 21⅓ = 6.75. BIA’s Technical Note 10 tabulates it as 675 per 100 sq ft. A 12½ ft by 8 ft wall (100 sq ft) therefore takes 675 bricks, and 709 with BIA’s minimum 5% waste.
Patio and floor brick laid flat is a different count: you see the brick’s bed face (about 3⅝ × 7⅝ in) rather than its edge, so you need fewer per square foot. Work that out from the paver’s face size, or use a paver calculator.
From bricks to a pallet order
Bricks are usually sold by the piece or in cubes and strapped bundles whose counts vary by plant — ask your supplier how theirs are packed before you round up. Mortar for 675 modular bricks is about 18 bags of 80 lb mortar mix before waste (Quikrete: 37 per bag). See how many bags of mortar per 1000 brick, and for veneer-sized brick, how many queen size bricks per square foot.
Different size? Use the full Brick Calculator.
What you’ll need
- Brick trowelBudget price
Spreads and furrows the mortar bed and butters the ends of each block or brick. A 10–11 in trowel suits most hands.
See options on Amazon (opens in a new tab) - Mortar jointerBudget price
Tools mortar joints to a concave finish once they are thumbprint-hard, which compacts them and sheds water.
See options on Amazon (opens in a new tab) - Mason’s line and line blocksBudget price
Bright braided line stretched between line blocks keeps each course of block or brick straight and level, and marks out slab edges.
See options on Amazon (opens in a new tab)
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Links to products are affiliate links — they cost you nothing extra and help keep these calculators free.
Frequently asked questions
How many Norman bricks per square foot?
4.5 per sq ft (450 per 100 square feet); 473 bricks for 100 square feet with 5% extra.
How many utility bricks per square foot?
3 per sq ft, so 100 square feet takes 315 bricks with 5% extra.
How many bricks for 500 square feet of wall?
3,544 bricks (modular) with 5% extra.
Other common sizes
- How many queen size bricks per square foot — 5.5 per sq ft (550 per 100 sq ft) for a 3 × 2¾ × 8 in queen
Sources
- Brick Industry Association — Technical Note 10, Dimensioning and Estimating Brick Masonry (opens in a new tab) — Table 4: brick per 100 sq ft and mortar per 100 sq ft and per 1,000 brick for modular and non-modular sizes; add at least 5% to brick and 15–25% to mortar for waste.
- Quikrete Mortar Mix (No. 1102) data sheet (opens in a new tab) — Each 80 lb bag lays up to 37 standard bricks or 13 standard 8×8×16 blocks.