Brick and Mortar Calculator
Estimate both the bricks and the mortar (volume and bag count) needed for a wall from its dimensions, brick size, joint thickness, and wall type, in metric or imperial units.
Input
Metric enters the wall in metres and the brick/joint in millimetres; imperial uses feet and inches.
A double-wythe (cavity) wall is two independent brick skins — bricks and mortar are doubled; cavity-fill and wall ties aren't estimated.
Total wall length (metres in metric, feet in imperial).
Wall height (metres in metric, feet in imperial).
Total area to subtract for doors and windows (square metres in metric, square feet in imperial). Leave blank if none.
Exposed face length of a single brick (millimetres in metric, inches in imperial).
Exposed face height of a single brick (millimetres in metric, inches in imperial).
Brick's front-to-back thickness, i.e. the wall thickness of one wythe (millimetres in metric, inches in imperial).
Mortar bed/perpend joint thickness in millimetres.
Extra bricks and mortar for cuts, breakage and future repairs (5% is typical; use more for a complex layout).
Mixed mortar volume from one bag — 0.017 m³ is typical for a 25kg bag of pre-mixed mortar; check your product.
Output
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| No data yet | |
One-line overview of net wall area, bricks needed, and mortar bags needed.
More ways to use this tool
REST API
curl -X POST https://api.iotools.cloud/v1/tool/brick-and-mortar-calculator \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"unitSystem": "metric",
"wallType": "single",
"wallLength": "5",
"wallHeight": "3",
"openingsArea": "3.5",
"brickLength": "215",
"brickHeight": "65",
"brickDepth": "102.5",
"mortarJointMetric": "10",
"wastagePct": "5",
"mortarYieldPerBagMetric": "0.017"
}'Swap in your own key from your account. The tool's fields are the body — no wrapper.
Ask an AI agent
Use the IOTools `brick-and-mortar-calculator` tool (Brick and Mortar Calculator) on this input:
YOUR_INPUT_HEREPaste this at any agent connected to the IOTools MCP server, then add your input.
Embed widget
<iframe
src="https://iotools.cloud/embed/brick-and-mortar-calculator/"
width="100%" height="520" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" loading="lazy"
title="Brick and Mortar Calculator — iotools.cloud"
sandbox="allow-scripts allow-forms allow-same-origin allow-downloads allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox"
allow="clipboard-write"
style="width:100%;border:1px solid #e5e7eb;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden"></iframe>
<script src="https://iotools.cloud/embed.js" async></script>Drop this into your own page — free, no key required, just a link back.
| Cost per API/MCP call | From 5 credits |
|---|---|
| Need more credits? | View pricing |
Also available with
Guides
Building or repointing a brick wall and need to know how much material to order? This calculator estimates both the bricks and the mortar — volume and bag count — from your wall dimensions, brick size, joint thickness, and wall type, in metric or imperial units.
Bricks
Each brick occupies an effective footprint of (brick length + mortar joint) × (brick height + mortar joint) — the joint takes up real wall area, so a wider joint means fewer bricks fit the same wall. The net wall area (gross area minus any door/window openings) divided by that effective footprint gives the base brick count, which is then doubled for a double-wythe (cavity) wall and increased by your wastage percentage for cuts, breakage, and future repairs.
Mortar
Mortar volume is estimated per brick as the effective cell's volume (the same footprint above, extended by the brick's depth) minus the brick's own solid volume — in other words, just the joint material surrounding each brick. That's multiplied across the waste-adjusted brick count and converted into bags using your mortar product's yield per bag (0.017 m³ for a typical 25kg bag, or 0.6 cu ft for a typical 80lb bag — adjust to match what you're buying).
Single vs. double wythe
A single-wythe wall is one brick thick. A double-wythe (cavity) wall is built as two independent brick skins with a gap between them — this calculator doubles both the brick and mortar estimates for that case, but doesn't estimate cavity-fill insulation or wall ties, since those depend on the specific cavity design.
How to use it
- Choose metric or imperial units and single or double wythe.
- Enter the wall's length and height, and any openings to subtract.
- Enter the brick's length, height, and depth (its front-to-back thickness).
- Adjust the mortar joint thickness, wastage percentage, and mortar bag yield if needed.
- Read off the brick count and mortar bags needed.
Everything is computed locally in your browser — no upload, no sign-up.