Counts bricks the way a bricklayer does — by the face size plus the mortar joint, with window and door openings taken out.
Add up windows and doors. A 3 × 5 ft window is 15 ft²; a standard door is about 21 ft².
%
5% for a plain run, 10% standard, 15% where there are many cuts, corners or a patterned bond.
Price (optional)
Bricks to order
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Net wall area—
Bricks per square foot—
Bricks before waste—
Mortar bags (70 lb)—
Sand needed—
Brick cost—
Bricks + mortar—
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The calculation
A brick occupies more wall than its own face, because every brick carries a mortar joint on two of its sides. The unit that matters is therefore brick length + joint by brick height + joint. A modular brick of 7⅝ × 2¼ in with a ⅜ in joint occupies 8 × 2⅝ in = 21 in², so a square foot takes 144 ÷ 21 = 6.86 bricks.
Bricks per square foot by size
Brick
Face size
Per ft² at ⅜ in joint
Modular
7⅝ × 2¼ in
6.86
Standard
8 × 2¼ in
6.55
Engineer modular
7⅝ × 2¾ in
5.76
Queen
7⅝ × 3⅛ in
5.16
King
9⅝ × 2¾ in
4.61
Utility
11⅝ × 3⅝ in
3.00
Mortar and sand
A rough but reliable figure is 7 bags of 70 lb mortar mix per 1,000 bricks at a ⅜ in joint, along with roughly 600 lb of sand if you are mixing from masonry cement rather than buying pre-blended bags. Thicker joints, deeper bricks and double-wythe work with collar joints all push that up.
Single or double wythe
Most modern brickwork on houses is a single wythe veneer tied back to a structural wall behind it. A solid double-wythe wall — a garden wall, a pier, an older solid-masonry building — needs twice the brick for the same face area.
Brick is the one material on a build where ordering short is genuinely unrecoverable. Clay colour depends on the chemistry of the pit and the position of each brick in the kiln, so batches fired weeks apart differ visibly. A wall finished with a top-up order tends to show it as a patch that catches the eye forever after.
Blend across pallets as you lay
Even within one order, pallets vary. Bricklayers pull from three or four pallets at once and mix them as they go, which distributes any variation evenly across the wall instead of leaving a band of darker brick at chest height. It costs nothing and is the single best thing you can do for the finished appearance.
Deduct openings, but not too eagerly
Subtract windows and doors from the area, because they are genuinely not brick. Do not, however, reduce the waste allowance at the same time — openings create cuts on four sides, and cut bricks are where waste actually comes from. A wall with three windows should carry a higher percentage, not a lower one.
Joint width changes the count more than people expect
Moving from a ⅜ in joint to a ½ in joint drops the brick count by roughly 6%, because the joint is a meaningful fraction of a 2¼ in brick height. Decide the joint with the bricklayer before ordering rather than assuming the standard.
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Frequently asked questions
How many bricks per square foot?
About 6.86 modular bricks per square foot with a standard ⅜ inch mortar joint, which is why the rule of thumb is seven bricks per square foot. Standard bricks work out at 6.55, queen size at 5.16 and utility brick at just 3 per square foot.
How many bricks do I need for a wall?
Multiply the net wall area in square feet by the bricks per square foot for your brick size, then add 5 to 15% waste. A 20 × 8 ft veneer wall in modular brick needs about 1,210 bricks including a 10% allowance.
How much mortar do I need per 1000 bricks?
Roughly seven 70 lb bags of pre-mixed mortar per 1,000 bricks at a ⅜ inch joint. If you are mixing your own from masonry cement, allow about 600 pounds of sand per 1,000 bricks as well.
Does the mortar joint affect how many bricks I need?
Yes, and more than people expect. A ⅜ inch joint is standard; moving to ½ inch reduces the brick count by about 6% because the joint is a large fraction of the brick's 2¼ inch height. Agree the joint width before ordering.
Should I order extra bricks?
Always. Ten percent is standard, and 15% where there are many cuts or corners. Beyond covering breakage, ordering the whole job in one batch matters because brick colour varies between firings and a later top-up will not match.